The Book Of Destinies
by angel out of time
Summary: primarily a b/v romance/ action/ adventure, although it is also meant to be humorous. something has gone horribly wrong in the course of time, something has contradicted the book of destinies, what can Kami do about it???
1. Prologue

The Book Of Destinies

**The Book Of Destinies**

By angel out of time

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z!!

**Prologue**

Vegeta snarled at the lizard like monstrosity before him, he had trained for 21 of his 28 years to beat this thing and he hadn't been doing a bad job so far. He had pushed Frieza so hard that he'd had to resort to his final transformation. Frieza exploded with rage and pure energy, the light was blinding and the battlefield (one of the moons of a practically uninhabited planet called Namek) began to crumble and disintegrate. Finally the transformation was finished, Vegeta lowered his arms from his eyes and found that he wasn't impressed.

"So, your skin got smoother, you got shorter and maybe you think you look a little prettier but it's not going to help you Frieza, you're going down!" Vegeta growled

Frieza's face fell into a vicious snarl

"Stupid monkey! You cannot beat me, you are nothing!" Frieza calmed and smiled dangerously "besides, I bet you didn't know that my power level in this form is over one million?"

Vegeta's eyes flew open and his jaw dropped.

"No… impossible!" Vegeta froze to the spot

'I may be in trouble here!' he felt frustration and anger like none he had ever felt before, he had to beat this monster now otherwise he would surely perish! And then who would avenge his dead race, his destroyed world and his disgraced father? Vegeta felt on the verge of tears as Frieza began to beat him savagely, choking him with his tail. For all the pain Vegeta was in right now, he knew that it was nothing, Frieza was toying with him, torturing him, this was not an honest fight, and he would die without honor.

"Noooo!!!" he screamed in rage as Frieza tossed him to the floor, leaving him gasping for breath on his hands and knees "all cannot be lost! I will beat you Frieza!!!!" he screamed like a pained animal and his immense fury burst out of him, forming a golden aura around him, he breathed in ragged drags of air as his hair flashed gold for a split second before he felt his heart pierced. He looked up to see Frieza smiling, his index finger pointing to the exact point on Vegeta's chest were the deadly beam had made contact, tearing through his cardiac muscles and sealing his fate.

Vegeta collapsed and prayed to the lost vegetasei that one day, a saiya jin could kill this monster. 

"Stupid monkey!" Frieza laughed as he kicked the still warm corpse to the side and entered his space ship, anxious to evacuate the dying moon, which was now collapsing under the strain of what had just taken place.

***************************************************************************************************************************

Kami was meditating on his watchtower when it happened. His concentration broke and he felt, rather than heard, something calling to him.

"Popo, do you feel that?"

Popo looked up from his flower bed and blinked in incomprehension

"Feel what Kami? Are you alright?" he saw his beloved master sweating slightly, griping his walking stick until his knuckles turned white.

"Yes Popo, but I think something must be terribly wrong in the universe, the book of destinies is calling me"

"Oh no Kami! Is someone attacking the earth again? Poor Goku, he's just managed to settle down to a peaceful life, such a shame to have to disturb him again!"

"Now don't jump to conclusions Popo! I shall consult the book and then we shall decide what is to be done, Goku may have his peaceful life yet!" 

Kami hastened toward the main temple of his watchtower, to the mystical room where, on rare occasions, he could consult the book of destinies. He closed the door to the room carefully behind him and walked quietly over to the stand, where he was surprised to find the book had already opened itself

'This must be a matter of great urgency!' Kami thought to himself as he placed his hand on the page, bracing himself for the rush of images and bits of conversations, the vague information from which he was to deduce the cause of this disturbance. Finally he looked up, this was a very urgent matter indeed, although Goku would not be needed just yet.

Down on the earth's surface, three old friends had gathered together the dragon balls.

"So what are we going to wish for?" said Goku, scratching the back of his head

Bulma sighed, 'how many times do I have to explain this before monkey boy understands it?'

"Goku, I've told you a million times already that we're wishing puar back to life remember that dog killed her?"

"Oh yeah! That's good, the dragon balls should always be used for important things like that!" Goku smiled idiotically

Bulma grimaced, remembering the time when she would have wasted their power on finding the perfect boyfriend.

"Sheesh guys will you calm down!" Krillin was massaging his aching head, they had been carrying on like this the whole time they were searching for the dragon balls and he was starting to get a migraine "I'm about to call the dragon!"

"Shouldn't we really wait for yamcha?" Goku asked but it was too late, the sky had turned dark, and lightning raged all around them, the eternal dragon waits for no man.

Suddenly a lightning bolt forked down right behind Krillin and Goku, they heard a scream and turned to find Bulma had been hit. She lay on the ground with smoke spilling out of her mouth.

"Bulma!!!" they screamed in unison, horrified.

Suddenly her body faded away and Kami appeared in front of them

"Kami??" they both shouted in confusion

"What happened to Bulma?" said Goku, furious that he hadn't been able to save his friend

"Yeah, is she ok?" said Krillin and then realized the stupidity of asking this question about someone who was blatantly dead.

"She will be fine, but I want you to make your original wish now and wish her back in a year's time, she is needed in the realm of the dead right now."

"Wha..? But why?" they both started but Kami had disappeared 

"Ah well, best do what he says, there's no arguing with God!" said Krillin and proceeded to make their wish to the eternally impatient eternal dragon.

Goku shrugged and figured they would just have to wait a year to find out what just happened. 

There you go!! The beginning of my new story, confused yet?? Ok so I know it's a little off the wall but you just have to imagine that we're back around the time when raditz came to earth, but he didn't turn up and the reunion went basically as planned. 

What does Kami need Bulma for??? Oooh you'll just have to wait and see!!


	2. Kami Makes A Deal

CHAPTER 1- Kami Makes Deal 

CHAPTER 1- Kami Makes A Deal 

Ok, so by now you're probably wondering what the hell is going on with this fic! Well you're about to find out so here we go!!!

Disclaimer: if I owned dragon ball z (which by the way I don't) I'd sleep a lot sounder at night!!!

King Yama sat at his gargantuan desk shuffling papers aimlessly. He was well renowned for his almost pathological hatred for paperwork and he had a lot of it to do. Being in charge of distributing all the dead souls in a whole quadrant of the galaxy wasn't easy.

A nerdish administration ogre wandered cautiously up to his desk and lightly cleared his throat, hoping to attract the king's attention without igniting his foul temper.

King Yama didn't look up and the ogre prepared to clear his throat again when the king said suddenly

"What do you want man, can't you see I'm busy?"

"Yes of course sir, but Kami of Chikyu is here requesting an audience with you"

"Hmm?" king Yama finally looked up " well then send him in!" he was somewhat relieved to have found an interruption to his dreaded task.

"Y-yes sir!" said the nerdy ogre and ran to open the door to Kami, accompanied by a girl in her late twenties with blue hair and eyes.

"Ah Kami!" said Yama in a suitably booming and omnipotent sounding voice, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he leaned back comfortably in his chair.

"Well, sir" began Kami "I need to speak to you in private about a very urgent matter"

Bulma's ears pricked up

'Kami said that we were here to find out whether I would be going to heaven or hell… am I that important that my judgment is an urgent matter? Something is definitely going on here!'

"What's going on here Kami? If it's got anything to do with me then you'd better spill the beans right now!" Bulma suddenly roared

"All in good time my child, all will be explained to you once I know where we stand, I still have to ask his highness a few things before we decide where you're going for the next year" Kami replied softly.

"Well ok, but I still don't like it!" she stormed off into a corner. Kami sighed, he really shouldn't blame her for being annoyed; dieing was a traumatizing and disorientating thing.

Slowly Kami approached Yama's desk.

"So Kami, what is this urgent matter? It better be very important, I'm a busy ogre you know!!"

"Of course your highness, I wouldn't come to you unless it was of the utmost importance" Kami knew that flattery would get him everywhere with a hot head like Yama. "There has been a disturbance in the natural course of time." He stated

"A what???" king Yama was distressed, this was definitely serious

"The book of destinies has been contradicted, if things continue to run their current course Chikyu will be destroyed prematurely"

"How did this happen?"

"It is very complicated your highness"

"Are you implying that I wouldn't understand Kami?"

"Of course not sir! I-I just think you should get comfortable, this may take time to explain properly." Kami corrected quickly "it all started yesterday, when an evil warrior lord named Frieza, I'm sure you've heard of him, killed one of the last of the saiya jin race, the prince no less"

"And?" Said king Yama impatiently "of what consequence is that to me? He did not die in an area under my jurisdiction!"

"No, sir, but according to the book of destinies, he should not have died! He was destined to transform into a legendary super saiya jin during that battle and destroy Frieza. Now, Frieza lives on, running a mock throughout the galaxy, eventually he will reach earth and it will be destroyed."

"So why don't you just wish him back with the dragon balls?"  
"The planet he was killed on was destroyed, we could wish him to the earth's check in post and then back to life on earth, however the dragon balls can only make one wish at a time and if we wait two years, it will be too late, plus there is no guarantee that he will be inclined to protect Chikyu." Kami looked at the ground sadly

"I see. But what does this have to do with Chikyu in particular and what does that girl have to do with it all??"  
"The saiya jin, was destined to become a great protector of Chikyu, as are his unborn children, he must achieve his destiny or the fabric of time itself may collapse, not to mention the destruction of Chikyu! As for the girl, the only reason the saiya jin will stay on Chikyu is her, she is his soul mate, they are also destined to meet and that's why I brought her here. If he does not have her to keep him on Chikyu, he will leave, as other than her he cares little about anything except his own strength. It is vitally important to the survival of Chikyu that he stays on the planet and that his children are born, therefore these two must meet and be brought back to life."

King Yama thought for a moment

"How will you bring them both back to life in the space of a year?"

"I will send some of earth's protectors to namek using earth's dragon balls, to gather the original dragon balls, there they can make three wishes, they can bring back the saiya jin and the girl and then wish themselves home. It'll be a tight schedule to fit into a year and a half, seeing as it'll take a year for chikyu's dragon balls to recharge, but it's our only hope"

"So I gather you want me to bring the saiya jin here to the earth's check in post, allow these two to meet and spend the next year together in the realm of the dead, then they will be brought back to life, he'll protect the earth and then they'll have children and all will be as it should have been?"

"Well, yes."

King Yama laughed. 

"You've got to be kidding! Why should I bother to stretch the limits of my power and authority to save one planet?"

Kami frowned, it was just no use trying to explain to King Yama that time would simply collapse, he wouldn't understand. Luckily, Kami knew how to speak his language

"Your highness, just imagine all the paperwork you'll have to do if everyone on earth is killed, plus how are you going to explain to your boss that a planet under your jurisdiction has disappeared without a trace when the book of destinies says that it has another 60 million years of existence ahead of it yet??"

King Yama's face fell

"When you put it like that Kami, I'd better get right on it! What was this saiya jin's name again?"  
"Vegeta, your highness"

Yama nodded and sent a message via nerdy ogre to the king of the southern quadrant asking him to transfer Vegeta immediately. 

Kami smiled wisely. 'All is not lost… yet' he thought.

Phew! Feel free to ask me any questions you have in a review!! Oh yeah and everyone please do REVIEW!!!! Also, anyone who wants to be informed via email when the chapters are posted can mail me at angeloutoftime@another.com


	3. A Little House In The After Life

CHAPTER 2- A Little House In The Afterlife

CHAPTER 2- A Little House In The Afterlife

To answer a couple of questions- the time line will not be quite straightened out because right now Freiza isn't supposed to be alive and Vegeta isn't supposed to be dead. Kami knows that Freiza can only be killed by a super saiya jin, but doesn't know that Goku is a saiya jin, so he wants to revive vegeta. Therefore, if vegeta does kill Freiza it'll be in a different time and place to where it was supposed to be, but at least the right people will be alive and dead! Raditz and Nappa are still alive, purging planets but Vegeta left them when he went to kill Freiza! Phew… on with the story!! 

Disclaimer: I do not own dragon ball z!!!

Kami waited patiently for king Yama to finish his phone conversation. Bulma, meanwhile was still sitting with her arms folded and a frown on her face in the corner of the huge room

'I wonder what they're talking about. It sure is taking a long time! I hope king Yama doesn't decide to send me to hell, I mean I know I'm a little overbearing sometimes but I have helped to save the planet on many occasions! Oh well, Kami will explain everything soon.' She sighed and went back to wondering how yamcha and puar's reunion had gone.

"Thank you, I'll repay the favor sometime I promise… good day." Said Yama as his phone conversation ended. He looked down to see the old namekian looking up at him hopefully 

"It has been arranged," he said eventually. Kami sighed in relief "however…" boomed the king's voice yet again "my colleague pointed out to me, and I agree with him, that the girl should not be informed of this incident, you must simply leave her with the saiya jin without explanation."

Kami's jaw dropped

"But sir, you must understand, she is a very difficult girl, she's very confused and she will demand an explanation!" 

"If I didn't know better, Kami, I'd say you were scared of her!" king Yama laughed heartily "and I can understand it, she'd have to be pretty feisty to be the soul mate of the Vegeta that I just heard about!" he laughed harder and Kami started to wonder how hard it would be to make these two fall in love, it was a delicate plan indeed.

"And why on earth does it matter if she knows???" Yama scowled "with all due respect your highness" Kami added quickly

"Why does it matter? Can you imagine what would happen if the mortals knew that things could go wrong like this? It'd look as if we aren't in control up here! There'd be panic and chaos on a galactic scale!!"

"Ok" replied Kami after some thought "but you must allow them both to keep their bodies, as they were before they were killed"

King Yama frowned

"You drive a hard bargain Kami, but just this once I will allow it. I expect you're hoping that some physical attraction will help the operation along?"  
"Well I wouldn't put it that way…"

"No, you'd pussy foot around it like you are now, but what can you expect from a green neuter like yourself? Any way, best get on with it Vegeta's been transported here by now, we'll set them up in a house, I suppose they'd go insane if we just locked them in a room for a year eh?"  
"That's true, they'll need to be able to spend some time apart, especially with those tempers!"

And with that Yama called an administration ogre to his desk and ordered him to show Kami and Bulma to her new home for the next year.

"How adorable!" Bulma squealed as she was shown around her new house, "I mean it's small and all but I could definitely live here"

Kami began to worry when he saw that there was only one bedroom, with a double bed. He desperately wanted to warn Bulma that she would have to share this small house with a mass murderer who she somehow had to find a way to love… but he was powerless to go against Yama's orders.

Vegeta had been preparing to battle one of the ogres of the afterlife when he suddenly saw that his body was disappearing

"Hey no cheating!" cried the ogre "you can't go invisible during a fight it's not fair!!"  
And with that Vegeta disappeared completely, reappearing before a huge, red ogre with a horned hat

"Vegeta I presume?" it said, and Vegeta nodded slightly and almost indifferently in response "I am king Yama" it boomed, "I'm in charge of the northern quadrant of this galaxy."

'Finally I get to speak to someone in charge around here!' he thought

"So you're the boss eh? Good, because I have a few complaints to make…" Vegeta snarled

Yama laughed, cutting Vegeta off in the middle of a well rehearsed and planned speech

"Of course you have complaints! You've been to hell and back!" he laughed harder but Vegeta merely growled

"Grrr… I'm glad you find suffering amusing, because you're about to experience a lot of it!!" he roared

Yama stopped laughing and cleared his throat

"Please calm down, we have some business to discuss"

Vegeta's curiosity quelled his anger and he leant his head to one side to listen

"What business do I have with you??"

"You are to be transferred out of hell, and sent to live in the afterlife of this quadrant, you will be provided with a house and you may train with my staff, we have only one rule, no lying, if you lie you will go straight back to hell with all the other mass murderers"

"Sounds good, only one question, why?" Vegeta smirked, no doubt they had noticed his superiority to the other inmates of hell and had decided to remove him from their slovenly presence

"Do not question the infinite wisdom of those who are above you!!" Yama roared, hoping to frighten Vegeta off this course of questioning

"Whatever" said Vegeta and he shrugged as he followed a nerdy ogre to his new home. On the way he saw many strange things, one of which was a gateway in the figure of an open snake's mouth leading on to a winding pathway which seemed to stretch on indefinitely into the distance 

"What is that?" he commanded rather than asked his ogre guide

"That? Oh that's snake way, king kai lives at the end of it, he's a great martial arts master, not to mention a really funny guy!" Vegeta was curious 

"How long does it take to travel down that pathway?" he asked

"Oooh, a very long time, so long that only king Yama has ever managed it!"

'Humph, I'm sure I wouldn't find it too challenging if that wind bag could do it!' thought Vegeta, but he remained silent not wanting to be sent back to hell within an hour of escaping it.

They finally reached the house. It was a small two-story building with a thatched roof, a quaint little white picket fence and a garden scattered with daffodils

"Is this it?" said Vegeta

"Why yes it is!" said the ogre, grinning from ear to ear.

"I hate it! I thought I'd been transferred out of hell!!!"

The ogre's face fell

"Well don't hold back, tell me what you really think!" the ogre sniped sensitively

"I was just obeying your one rule, no lying!" Vegeta laughed cruelly as the ogre wandered away dejectedly. He looked up at the house and decided that it might just be livable, with a lot of redecorating. He frowned and wandered up the crazy paving path to the bright red door and let himself in. it was then that he heard someone in his living room, a woman was humming some incoherent tune to herself as she twirled about the room looking through things and plumping pillows

"I see they gave me a maid as well!" he said aloud causing the woman to whip round in shock and then glare angrily at him

"What are you doing in my house?" she shrieked, causing Vegeta to cover his ears

"Your house?" he roared after the ringing in his ears subsided

"You heard me, now you'd better give me a good explanation or I'll scream until your eardrums pop!!"

"This is my house woman! One of king Yama's servants showed me to it personally!"

"Hmmm" Bulma had stopped screaming "Yama must have made a mistake, ah well I suppose he's a very busy guy, these things happen" she actually looked at Vegeta properly for the first time. 'Besides this guy, whoever he is, is kinda cute!' she cheered up and continued "I'll just go sort it out in the morning! You want some food Mr.…?"

"If that was a question woman my name is prince Vegeta, but you may call me 'sir'. I would like some food and you had better get this mess sorted out by tomorrow morning!"

'Shame about his attitude!' she thought

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want to wake up every morning for the next year to look at your face any way!!!"

"Humph" he replied, following her into the kitchen suddenly wondering what she had meant when she said she would only be here for one year…

Ok, sorry if that wasn't great, but I'll get the next one out soon I promise!!!

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!! 


	4. Bad Alien!

CHAPTER 3- Bad Alien

CHAPTER 3- Bad Alien!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!! I get a lot of people saying that this fic is very 'different', is that a good thing?? Ah well paranoia aside, here's chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own dragon ball z or the characters in this story!

The next day Bulma set off early to King Yama's office. She would have had a good night's sleep had it not been for the fact that there was no night time around here. Her watch told her it was six in the morning, earth time, but it had remained light and sunny since she got here. Vegeta, her grumpy dead housemate, hadn't slept at all, which conveniently meant that there was no argument over who got the bed.

Bulma knew she was on the correct path when she passed by the entrance to snake way.

'Just a couple more minutes and I'll be there!' She thought

When she finally reached the office, she was unsure of what to do. It seemed almost comically pointless to knock on such huge doors with her tiny fist, so she decided to go around the building and walk in through the entrance where the souls of the dead came to be judged. She shuddered when she passed all the dead souls, but then realized that she herself was dead and so shouldn't be so squeamish. She walked through the door and waltzed right up to the mighty ogre's desk shouting up a cheerful 

"Good morning you highness!"

"Huh? Wha…?" king Yama looked around and then down to cast his eyes upon the girl who Kami had brought to him yesterday. "What is it? I'm very busy!" he snapped

"Well there's no need to be rude, I just came to point out that a mistake has been made!"

King Yama froze 'could she possibly know about the book of destinies? If Kami told her I swear I'll ring his scrawny little neck!' 

"What? What mistake?" he said

"You assigned two of us to the same house, there's some dead guy who claims to own the house that you gave me!"

He sighed in relief, but then tensed again when he realized he needed an excuse

"Well, it's not actually a mistake…"

"What? I have to share and you didn't bother to warn me? Not to mention the fact that there's only one bed! What kinda two bit operation is this any way?" Bulma was outraged.

"I'm very sorry but there were no other vacancies and we needed to place the prince in accommodation immediately, an administrative ogre was supposed to have visited you to warn you, but apparently he did not, I promise you he will be punished!" He lied

"Hmm, well when you put it that way I suppose I can put up with the guy until another vacancy comes along!"  
Yama was relieved again.

"That's very reasonable of you, is there anything else you would like?"

"Well, now you mention it, I could do with a calendar to tick off the days until I get wished back!"

"Why of course!" king Yama routed in his desk and handed down the calendar that was about the size of his thumbnail. "Run along now, I'm very busy, dead guys to distribute, papers to fill out, you know the usual stuff. Now shoo!"  
"Ok see ya later your highness" Bulma curtsied and ran off back to her little house.

When she got back she found Vegeta slumped on the couch looking severely depressed.

"What's the matter Vegeta? Is being dead getting to you?" Bulma said sympathetically, sitting down next to him

"None of your business woman! Did you sort things out with Yama?"

"Well, unfortunately he says that there's no other vacancies in the realm of the dead right now, but he'll get back to us when there are and he gave me a calendar!!"

Vegeta snorted

"What do you need that for, you're dead? You don't exist any more, why do you need to know how many days have passed on your home world when you'll never see it again?" Bulma got annoyed

"As a matter of fact I will see my home world again! For your information I'm going back there in a years time so there!"

"What are you talking about? You're dead, that's the end of it! You're delusional!"

"No I'm not, my friends will wish me back to life!"

Vegeta was curious

"They can do that were you come from?"

"Yep!" Bulma said proudly " they can wish for almost anything using the dragon balls!"

Vegeta had heard of these dragon balls before, but he had thought that they were a mere legend. He thought for a moment

"Do you know for certain that they work?"  
"Yeah sure I do! We wished my friend Krillin back when he got murdered and we wished chaotzu back when demon king piccolo killed him…"

"Will you promise me something?" Vegeta interrupted

Bulma stopped

"What?" she said softly, Vegeta looked really sad, like he really needed her to keep this promise

"When you go back… can you wish me back?" he looked ashamed to be asking her a favor

"Yeah sure" she said, she didn't want him to feel even more awkward than he obviously already did

'What am I doing? This guy could be a mass murderer or anything! I've gotta stop being nice to people just because they're cute!' she thought and then decided to change the topic of conversation, Vegeta seemed to be in a good mood all of a sudden and she felt she aught to get to know him a bit

"So Vegeta… how did you die?" 

'Great question Bulma!' she mentally slapped herself 'he's really going to want to talk about that!!'

"It's a long story woman!" he growled, not wanting to talk much about his past life.

'If she finds out what I used to do for a living I'm pretty sure she won't be too eager to wish me back!'

"Oh, well I got struck by lightening, it was pretty scary!" Bulma persisted

"Not as scary as having a ki beam from an evil space tyrant pierce your heart just as you were about to kill him and avenge the death of your entire race!!" he snapped, pretty sure that she wouldn't have a clue what he was talking about, he could tell just by looking at her that she couldn't fight, probably none of her species could.

"Oh! So you're a fighter?"

"A warrior" he corrected, a little taken aback

"Same thing!" Bulma continued "so… are you human? Vegeta sure doesn't sound like any human name I ever heard…" she trailed of as she could see he was insulted

"I am a saiya jin! I am the prince of all saiya jin! How could you think that I belong to your race? I have a tail for crying out loud!!!"

"There's no need to get worked up about it!!" she roared back " my friend goku had a tail and he's still human, except when he looks at a full moon but that's not the point…"

"What did you just say?" Vegeta was calm

"Full moon? Do you have moons on your planet?"

"I don't have a planet woman, it was destroyed by the space tyrant I told you about before! But that's not the point… you said your friend transforms when he looks at the moon, does he by any chance transform into a giant ape?"

"Um… yeah." Said Bulma a little curious as to how he knew that, and then it clicked " so goku's an alien, like you???" she was excited by the idea that she had known an alien nearly all her life

"It certainly sounds like it! I suppose he must have been sent to your planet to purge it and wipe out your race…" Vegeta thought out loud and then regretted it

"To what????" Bulma screeched, "is that what sort of alien you are? Bad alien! Bad alien!" she shouted as she smacked him over the head, irritated to find that he didn't even feel it.

She wanted to cry, she was stuck in a house with a mass murderer and she'd promised to wish him back to life!

"Woman, will you calm yourself? We only purged planets because the evil space tyrant would have killed us otherwise, that was why I was trying to kill him!"

"That's no excuse!"

Vegeta snorted

'I can't be bothered with this anymore, I want to go and train! Seeing as I'll be alive again in a years time, I might as well keep in shape, especially if I want a second chance at putting an end to Freiza!' Vegeta growled at this thought and got up to leave the house and find an ogre to beat up.

"Where do you think you're going? You come back here this instant and listen to me!!" Bulma shrieked

"Shut up woman! I'm going to train!" he shouted as he slammed the door behind him

'Oh great, I'm dead, my dead housemate is a mass murderer and to top it all off I still think he's cute!' Bulma sighed and decided to go hang her calendar in the kitchen and tick off the two days she had already spent here 

"Just another 363 days to go!" she said to herself.

Ah, chapter 3 is complete, so is everyone still enjoying it? Have I still got your attention? If so then please review!


	5. One Month Later

CHAPTER 4- One Month Later

CHAPTER 4- One Month Later

Yet again I'd like to thank all of my reviewers especially VJ for giving me the most thorough and down right sweet review I think I've ever had and chibi tenshi senchi for being such a nut! J/k.

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z I just know a lot about it!!!

A month had passed in the land of the dead and Kami was starting to worry about the feasibility of his plan. He checked on the housemates nearly every day, monitoring their 'progress', not that there appeared to be any. As far as he could see it would probably take the whole year for them to even be on speaking terms let alone in love!

Bulma got out of bed, her body clock had adjusted to the constant daylight and she woke up every morning at nine o clock earth time. She was glad that she had an alarm on her watch; she didn't want to lose track of what day it was while the only thing keeping her sane was the fact that every morning she could tick off another day on her calendar. She wandered groggily down to the kitchen and did just that

'333 days to go' she thought, with lagging enthusiasm

She then started cooking breakfast, knowing that Vegeta should be back within the next hour looking as if he would be on death's door, if it weren't for the fact that he was already dead of course.

As per usual Vegeta was out sparring with an exceptionally large ogre. He had found these matches very useful as, although the ogre who he chose as his sparring partner was no match for him in strength, speed and certainly intelligence, he had great stamina. Vegeta would begin to tire long before him every time and would eventually get beaten quite badly, recovering to be even stronger. Every day he got closer and closer to lasting as long as the ogre, closer to beating him. Training also kept Vegeta sane, the woman had here obsessive time keeping, he had his training and his thoughts of getting another chance to wipe the smirk off Frieza's slimy face.

Yet again Vegeta got beaten and the ogre carried him to his back door and dumped him on the door step, knocking and waiting for the blue haired woman to answer the door, drag the man inside and dress his wounds ready for tomorrow's match. The ogre had little idea why they all went through this every day, not that he minded. The saiya jin would come to him every morning taunting him and challenging him till eventually he gave in and fought him, he thought that Vegeta was quite insane to come back every morning for more. He slumped off into he distance without a word as Bulma sighed and went to fetch the first aid kit.

She sometimes wished that she had never told Vegeta about the dragon balls, if she had just let him think that he was dead for good he wouldn't bother with such incessant training and she wouldn't have to nurse him every morning only to have him shout at her for her apparent 'incompetence'. Today was no different

"Hold still will ya Vegeta! How am I supposed to clean these wounds if you keep wriggling???" she screamed with frustration

"Woman you're doing it all wrong!!!" he roared back

"What??? How am I doing it wrong? I'm just washing your wounds!! There's no specific method for washing wounds you big ape!"

"Well if there was you wouldn't be able to do it properly!" he smirked.

"Now you're just talking nonsense Vegeta. What's the matter? Is the pain getting to you?" she taunted.

Vegeta growled

"Of course not woman!"

"Well then you won't mind holding still for a while will you?"

"Humph"

Bulma sighed, with Vegeta finally quieted she could get this chore finished within an hour and then move on to listening to him insult her cooking while she served him his usual 4-course breakfast. 

Bulma wouldn't mind being dead so much if it wasn't so dull, Vegeta could train all day long but all she really had to do with her time was watch the seconds go by or look after the surly saiya jin. She supposed she was quite lucky that the latter was so time consuming, or she would surely have gone raving mad by now. 

Vegeta finished his breakfast, grunted in recognition to Bulma and left again, probably to go harass king Yama about something.

By now Vegeta had realized that Yama had some purpose for moving him out of hell. He knew that he was needed and so he decided that there was no need for him to be on his best behavior. And so, every day after breakfast he would limp and scrape up to Yama's office, examining the entrance to snake way carefully as he passed it every time, and once there for want of any thing better to do he would hassle Yama in any way he could think of. He would lean against the leg of his desk glaring intimidatingly at the souls being judged and shouting out comments such as

'You'll like it in hell, that is unless eternal unannullable suffering and pain aren't your sort of thing!' and then he would laugh cruelly and watch as most of the souls would run frantically, trying to find a way to escape their 'fate'. It was taking Yama twice as long to get through his work with Vegeta 'helping out' as he put it, and he was half considering going back on his deal with Kami and sending Vegeta back to hell where he belonged.

Bulma too had her suspicions about this whole arrangement. It had not escaped her notice that she and Vegeta were the only souls she had seen who still possessed their bodies, everyone else took on the form of fluffy little clouds after they were judged. She was also suspicious of Yama's story about there being no other vacancies in the land of the dead. How could they run out of space in the land of the dead? Technically they didn't inhabit any physical space, they were literally nowhere and so surely there was no issue of 'vacancies'. She tried to imagine how disappointing it would be to go to heaven and find that you would have to go homeless due to lack of allocable housing! She chuckled for the first time in a week. She had told Kami about her suspicions and he had said that she had a purpose in this place, but that he couldn't tell her what it was, and then he stared long and hard at her, as if trying to communicate this purpose to her without risking punishment. 

She sighed and shook her head to clear it of her troubled thoughts, realizing that it was time to start dinner, if she didn't want to get a tongue lashing from her demanding house mate. She smiled as she gathered ingredients from the various cupboards in the little kitchen

'At least he let me have the bed' she thought to her self.

There you go chapter 4! I'm sorry if anyone is annoyed at me for fast forwarding time like that, but I really can't write every day or week of their year in the land of the dead in detail, there is more of the story to tell after the year and so I'm going to have just to write a chapter summarizing their lives during each month! Ok? Hope you liked it anyway. PLEASE REVIEW!!!! ^_^ Demanding aren't I?


	6. Boredom Strikes!

CHAPTER 5-

CHAPTER 5- Boredom Strikes!

Disclaimer: I'm not making any money from this story, so please don't sue me

To answer your question, silverstar, Kami isn't literally popping by the house every day, but because he's the god of earth, he's kinda aware of what's going on but he's not there if you get my meaning? He has only visited Bulma once and Vegeta was out either training or 'helping' Yama. Thanks for paying attention though!!! On with the story!

Another month had passed and Bulma was bored. She had taken to getting up at 9 as she had done before to nurse and feed Vegeta and then going back to bed between 12 and 3 in the afternoon.

'What am I supposed to do around here any way??' she thought whenever she felt a little guilty for wasting her after life away in bed. She had asked Yama for a job, doing pretty much the same thing as the administrative ogres but he had refused on the grounds that she didn't know enough about the afterlife to be qualified for it. 

'Besides' Yama had thought 'if I let her hang around my staff too much she might overhear a conversation or something and then BANG galactic chaos when she tells the mortal realm exactly how incompetent some of us are up here!'

Bulma felt very uncomfortable in this world. There were no inventions needed, there were no adventures to be had, they didn't even need electricity! In short, she lacked an output for her creative skills and her ingenious powers of reasoning. The only real contact she had with other people was with Vegeta and so she argued wit him daily, although she worried that they would almost certainly run out of things to argue about soon. They were scraping the bottom of the barrel for insults to hurl, so much so that arguments now consisted mostly of who has the stupidest haircut or who has the most irritating voice, the first Bulma always won, the second Vegeta was invariably the victor

Vegeta meanwhile had finally beaten the ogre and had been looking around for a new sparring partner, he could find none and was displeased to find that pretty much every warrior who had ever lived had gone to hell. This caused Vegeta to reflect on the unfairness of a world, which did not understand the warrior code and so judged them too harshly. 

'Who can be blamed for killing someone in a kill or be killed situation?' he thought, although he agreed that he himself should be sent to hell, he had spent his life going out of his way to be evil, 

'… But not before I'd killed Frieza and dragged him down there with me!' he mentally snarled to himself as this train of thought repeated itself inevitably in his head as he hunted for a sparring partner day after day.

Vegeta by now was just as bored as Bulma and twenty times as frustrated. He had known at the instant of his death that he was on the verge of achieving a level of power and ability not previously seen for over a thousand years. He had almost ascended to the ranks of his ancestors by becoming a super saiya jin. Now, in the afterlife he could not even come close to such levels. He could only conclude that it was because nothing here could inspire him to draw on such power. He had no real enemies here, his life couldn't be endangered and in the fore front of his mind there was always the knowledge even if he turned super saiya jin right now it wouldn't harm Frieza, he would still have to wait the best part of a year to even touch him! All in all, turning super saiya jin was not only not absolutely essential right now; it wasn't even a pressing matter. What was he to do with himself? He had dedicated his entire adult life to the pursuit of strength and now he found him self at a level where he could go no further, at least for the next ten months. He had never thought to take up a hobby 'just in case' he should find himself in this situation, after all this turn of events was not something any sane mortal mind could have predicted, even in their wildest prophesies! He tried to imagine himself taking boat rides, picking daffodils or even just going on long walks to pass the time as he had seen the other souls (in fluffy little cloud form) do. These images where absolutely repugnant to Vegeta's mind, he could think of nothing more degrading. He concluded that he'd rather fall into a boredom-induced coma for the next ten months than partake in such ridiculous pass times.

Today was a typical day in that particular stage of their stay. Vegeta had gone out early to find a new sparring partner; Bulma had gotten up a couple of hours later at 9. She ticked off a day on her calendar, there were only 302 days to go 'only???' she thought to herself, knowing that she couldn't take much more of this. At about 10:30 Vegeta had finally given up his search and come back to the house that neither dared to call home. Bulma had heard the door slam and piped up

"Any luck??" to which Vegeta had replied

"Stupid weakling good doers!" his general insult for the majority of people in this place, although this certainly wasn't heaven, it still enforced a strict 'no murderers aloud' policy, and so Vegeta couldn't find a single fighter amongst those stuck in limbo between heaven and hell with them. Bulma briefly wondered if they all had a purpose here.

"Well Vegeta" she had replied "perhaps you were better off in hell, I'm sure Yama would be willing to send you back if you ask nicely" she had felt proud to have found a new spin on the 'bad alien!' argument, this could possibly keep them entertained for a week if they were careful not to use all their insults in one shot! 

"Shut up woman!" Vegeta searched for a witty come back, a difficult task when he was so wound up that he just wanted to resort to simple violence and be done with it. He had at least two reasons not to hit her though, one being the prospect of his resurrection and the other, the fact that he wouldn't be able to kill her, she would recover and then she'd be absolutely unbearable! "Besides I've been to hell, I know what it's like and I know that you'd fit right in better than I ever would!" he had finally managed to blurt out  
"I'll have you know that I am… was a very good person!" she raged

"I didn't mean as an inmate woman!"  
"Well then what exactly did you mean?"

"I meant you'd make an excellent implement of eternal torture!!!" he roared triumphantly

Bulma had to stifle a grin, to Kami, watching this fight it obviously appeared that they hated each other, but to them it was something entirely different. They were endlessly grateful to be able to flex their mental abilities, to entertain each other and above all to stay sane. They themselves were the only ones who could sense the mutual respect and gratitude building between them, albeit incredibly, painfully slowly. There was hope yet for those who understood what was really going on…

"Whatever!" yelled Bulma as she stormed off back to bed. Vegeta felt immensely cheered and decided to go harass Yama for the rest of the day. Today he had decided to stand outside the office and spread a rumor through the line of the dead souls that everyone in that line went to hell and there was a completely different line up for heaven on the other side of the office. He imagined that they'd all run frantically and gullibly around to the other side of the building, searching aimlessly for the heaven line and then he chuckled as he imagined king yama's face as an ogre opened the door to find nobody waiting to be judged! He smirked evilly and set off to put his plan into action

There you go chapter 5!!!! Review review review!!! Sorry it took longer than usual, I discovered my brother's game boy yesterday and have been obsessively playing pokemon since! Yeah I know I'm sad… what's your point? Just review would ya?


	7. Wishes Fulfilled

CHAPTER 6- Wishes fulfilled

CHAPTER 6- Wishes fulfilled

Ne'tolme, I'm not really sure what you mean, sorry! This whole story has been set in a kinda limbo type place. They're neither in heaven or hell, but in the place were souls with unfinished business remain. Vegeta has never been to heaven, he got brought to limbo in order to meet Bulma at the beginning of the story… he hasn't visited heaven at any point… I'm not really sure what else I can say… could you point out the specific paragraph or sentence you where confused and I'll try to look it over and change it?? Thanx!

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z!

"Please??" pleaded the blue haired woman tugging on the ankle of Yama's trouser leg as hard as she could.

Yama was really starting to tire of her pleading, he had tried valiantly to ignore it but she had that whiney tone, and those puppy dog eyes…

"Look, I've said no and that's final!! Who are you to question my decision?? I am the master of the dead… and you're dead!!" he boomed.

Bulma didn't flinch, she had been so bored for so long and she wasn't about to give up just as she could see Yama's resolve wearing thin.

"But… I'm so bored!!!" whined Bulma in a small child's tone. She crossed her arms and huffed, looking up at Yama, allowing tears to form in her eyes. She had used this trick on her father so many times throughout her life, by now she had honed the act to perfection.

Yama sighed, 

'Perhaps I could find something for her, anything just to get her to leave me in peace, she's almost as disruptive as the saiya jin!' Yama tried to remember simpler times, peaceful days before this pair of maniacs turned up. Bulma and Vegeta combined were enough to pull the heavens apart, 'and yet the safety of heaven and earth depends on them getting together according to the book of destinies' Yama almost choked on the irony of it.

After a long pause he replied

"FINE! Fine I'll give you a job… but you won't be a guide." He sulked

"YEY!!" Bulma started to jump up and down for joy 

"Stop that! No rejoicing in my office!"

"Oh… sorry" Bulma stopped and looked down at the floor before Yama changed his mind "so what's my job?" she asked

"You have to keep Vegeta from disrupting my work!!" he smiled at the thought of keeping both these pests occupied and away from his office 'two birds with one stone!' he smiled with triumph. Bulma gulped

"How will I do that? I mean he's so strong, way too strong for little old me to handle, I have a delicate bone structure ya know!" 

"You can decide on the details, you asked for a job, I gave you one that's bound to keep you more than busy… NOW GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!" he roared, startling Bulma into action, she ran from the office all the way back to the house, tripping several times.

When she finally got back she slammed the door behind her and leant back on it, her ragged breaths slowly turning to hysterical giggles.

'Finally something to do with my time!!' she thought. Vegeta had finally found a pocket of warriors who hadn't been sent to hell, mostly members of his own race, and subsequently he had harassed Yama to the point where he either gave these souls their bodies back for the duration of Vegeta's stay or he would never get anything done again. Vegeta had spent day and night training with them ever since. He only took a break to eat or to visit Yama, having thought of some new ingenious method of torture. He enjoyed his training even more than usual due to the fact that all of his sparring partners worshipped the very sweat on his brow. Bulma snorted as she thought of how they bowed when he entered a room, addressed him only as 'your majesty' and worst of all gave her death glares every time she dared to argue with Vegeta.

'Idiots' she thought, but smiled to herself as she remembered that one of them bore a more than passing resemblance to her best friend and favorite body guard, Goku. She sighed

'I miss the guys, I wonder what they're doing now' she imagined Goku eating one of chi chi's home cooked feasts, krillin waxing his head, she didn't want to imagine what oolong and master roshi were up to, and then she thought of Yamcha'I hope he appreciates that I died to bring his best friend back to life! That jerk! I bet he doesn't even miss me! He'll be with some bimbo right now, I mean it's been three months!' she looked up at the calendar in the vain hope that she might have been wrong, that she might in fact have been here longer. But it still told her that there were a whole 270 days to go, she wished that time would speed up and then decided to go get on with planning how she would stop a practically unstoppable saiya jin. 

She took out her note pad and began to brainstorm ideas. She set a target of thinking up at least ten good ways to stop Vegeta from getting to the office. She took out her pen and wrote on a clean page

'Ten ways to distract, or trap, a decidedly evil, super strong alien 

  1. Cook enough food to keep him eating breakfast till he only has enough time left in the day to train 

(draw back: I'd have to get up pretty early to cook that much food)

  1. Keep mentioning that evil space pirate guy, that always makes Vegeta too angry to do anything but train 

(draw back: involves getting Vegeta mad)

  1. Sleeping powder 

(draw back: could only really use It once, Vegeta's not dumb)

  1. Hide his armor… he wouldn't go out in public without it 

(draw back: would entail seeing Vegeta naked) 

  1. Dare him to go all the way down snake way and come back 

(draw back: I'd have no contact with other people for at least two months and I'd go insane)

  1. Promise not to speak for a week if he promises not to harass Yama 

(draw back: I'd never make it to a whole week)

  1. Dye his hair red while he's asleep forcing him to stay in doors to retain his dignity 

(draw back: involves making Vegeta very, very mad)

  1. Use brute force 

(draw back: that's never going to happen)

  1. Tell all of his dumb followers that he's not the real Vegeta but an imposter who stole his body, thus causing them to beat him till he can't move for at least a couple of days 

(draw back: even they're not dumb enough to believe that, and Vegeta could probably take them all on anyway)

  1. Tell him that if he continues to harass Yama, I won't wish him back when I go home! 

(Draw back: NONE!)'

Bulma sat back in her chair and smiled to her self

"I really am a genius!" she said aloud

"I beg to differ," said a voice from behind her. Her heart leaped in her chest and she turned to see Vegeta, bloody and battered from sparring. "Where's my food woman?" he managed to groan before collapsing on the living room floor.

"Vegeta!" Bulma cried and ran to the door to call for help, she'd need one of those saiya jin to help her lift their battered prince to a bed for the night. 

Quickly Goku's look alike appeared before her

"What is it woman?" he said in a tone which was obviously carbon copied from Vegeta

'Pathetic' she thought briefly before returning to crisis management mode

"I need you to lift Vegeta for me and take him to bed, I think it's only fair seeing as it's your fault that he's in this condition!"The saiya jin was surprised at the anger in her tone, she sounded like they had beaten her, not the prince who lay behind her.

"His majesty, if he were conscious, would not wish to suffer the indignity of being carried to bed by a low class soldier such as myself" he replied gruffly

Bulma's eyes flashed with rage

"The indignity????" she roared "what dignity is there in passing out on the living room floor and being left there as decoration, just because no one bothered to help you for the sake of wounding your precious saiya jin pride?!?!?" she took a deep breath and glared hard at Goku's doppelganger 

He yielded and lifted Vegeta from the floor and to his bed. Bulma wrapped his wounds, splinted his broken limbs, and watched over him until he woke two days later, got out of bed, 'humphed' and went to spar again. 

Phew!!! And now I'm going to bed! You'd better review or I won't be impressed!

*Huffs, crosses her arms and looks up at you with bulma-esque puppy dog eyes*

… Or I simply won't post the next chapter for a week!

*Smirks in a very vegeta-esque way*


	8. Good Alien

CHAPTER 7- Good Alien

CHAPTER 7- Good Alien

VJ, you're a genius! Everyone should think like you do ^_^ oh and thanks for telling me about that ceasing to exist thing! I haven't seen the buu saga so I didn't know! 

EVERYONE please go and read my other fic, and review it so I can push my total for that story past the 300 mark!!! Please? 

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z

Kami sat quietly staring at the book of destinies. He prayed to whichever higher authority was concerned that it would open again and tell him what to do next. He knew that it almost definitely would not reopen until the crisis was over and it brought him the news that everything was as it should be. Still, he remained in this small room, watching the book, feeling it's power emanating toward him as if it would help him and guide him through the difficult choices he had to make. 

He had heard Bulma and Vegeta conclude that Goku must be a saiya jin. From watching Vegeta over the last few months, gathering what information he could about the saiya jin race's physiology and philosophy of life, he too had concluded that Goku had to be a saiya jin. 

He remembered the last time the book had spoken to him, it had shown him a small boy causing his grandfather endless trouble, he had heard the man say to himself that he didn't know what to do with the boy. Then he had seen the boy fall down a cliff, a fall that would have killed any normal child. This particular boy, though, recovered with an entirely reformed personality. This boy was Son Goku and Kami knew from the book that he was destined to be a great ally to the guardianship of earth. At the time he had not understood why the book had chosen to show him this, it seemed that the images were just reaffirming that things were running smoothly, only now did Kami understand that that information would help him to realize now Goku's true heritage.

One of the dilemmas facing Kami was what to do with his new discovery. He knew that Goku had the right to know, and that if Goku could become a super saiya jin then they would almost certainly destroy Frieza and Chikyu would be safe. However, if Goku killed Frieza instead of Vegeta, then he didn't know what the consequences for this time line would be, would it change everyone's destinies irreparably? Then there was Yama, if Yama found out that another saiya jin existed on earth, then he would most probably just send Vegeta back to hell, before he had the chance to fall for Bulma and change his murderous ways as he was destined to do. Therefore Kami felt that by allowing Yama to find out about Goku he would be doing Vegeta a great disservice, he would be stripping Vegeta of his better destiny. He knew that if he was going to tell Goku and allow him to train to become a super saiya jin, he would have to somehow prevent this information from reaching Yama.

This was a hard decision for Kami, he didn't like to break the rules of the hierarchy of the heavens, and disobeying Yama was not something he could undertake lightly. He knew however that if he did not do this then he would be letting both Vegeta and Goku down, not to mention that the protection of Chikyu was his top priority and whatever angle he looked at it from, two super saiya jins were better than one. He sighed and decided to get this over and done with.

************************************************************************

Goku was sitting contentedly under the shade of a tree by a stream, watching Gohan splashing about at the waters edge.

'I wonder what Bulma's doing now; I wonder what Kami needed her for. Getting struck by lightning must have stung! Ah well, it's only been three and a half months, I'll just have to be patient for the rest of the year'

Suddenly, Gohan slipped on the rocks and landed hard on his bottom. Goku jumped up as he heard his son commence wailing for his mother, then Gohan stopped abruptly as a figure cloaked in white appeared before him and lifted him out of the stream, carrying him toward his father, who he could see smiling patiently.

"Kami, what brings you here?" he heard his father say when they got close enough to hear. "If it's a social call you're in luck, Chi Chi should have finished lunch just about now!"

"No Goku, I'm afraid this isn't a social call" he heard a voice above him say gravely. He looked up at the man who carried him, and found what looked to him like a giant insect, he reached up to touch one of it's antennae, but found them moving further away from his grip as he realized he had been passed over to his father. 

"Oh, what is it Kami?" he heard his father reply, and looked up to see an expression on his face he had never seen before. His eyes were hard and serious, but somehow he could see a glint of mischief still present in them and his lips were set in a firm line. Gohan didn't like the way this conversation was going, he wanted to go home and this looked like they needed to have a long boring adult conversation over his head; both literally and metaphorically. He decided to interrupt them before they could get into full flow

"Daddy, I'm real hungry, can we go eat?"

Goku smiled down at him briefly and looked back up at the insect man

"Would you mind continuing this back at the house? Gohan gets cranky if he doesn't eat regularly enough"

"Just like his father eh?" chuckled the insect. "I suppose I should let you eat first, my news can wait another couple of hours"

Gohan sighed in relief as they began walking back to his house, he was lifted onto his fathers shoulders and giggled happily as they talked about things his dad had done in the past, before he was born. He knew his daddy was a very strong and brave man, because his mother had said so and she never lied, as far as he knew. He had also over heard his daddy's best friends at the reunion saying something about him being a 'warrior' but he didn't know what that meant and his mom wouldn't let him listen to those conversations.

He concluded that he liked the insect man, he must have been funny because his daddy kept smiling and chuckling, he also knew that the insect man was kind, he had lifted him up out of the cold water and he had agreed to let him and his daddy eat before they had their boring conversation. However, when they got home his mom didn't seem at all happy to see him, she scowled as she opened the door and she slammed plates down when she put them on the table for lunch. Not only that, but she wouldn't let the insect man eat, he only had two glasses of water the whole time that they were eating and she stared at him the way she stared at Gohan when he hadn't studied for the entire meal. He wondered how her face didn't get tired.

When the meal was over his mom cleared the table and took him to his room

"Gohan, sweety I want you to stay in here while Kami is visiting us"

"The insect man's called Kami?" said Gohan

Chi chi smiled at her clever son

"Yes Gohan, but he's not an insect, he's just a green man. To be honest nobody knows what he is." She sat down on the bed next to him and he sensed that now was one of those times when she would let him ask her a million questions and he would learn lots of interesting stuff.

"Why don't you like him mommy? He seemed nice to me"

"He is nice sweety, it's just that every time he comes here he brings bad news!" his mom was starting to get annoyed, he imagined the invisible cloud of bad news following Kami around every where he went and felt sorry for him.

"Is he cursed mommy?" he remembered the word from a book she had read to him. She calmed down and smiled

"No, not exactly, he's just a very important man. You see, it's his job to take care of the entire planet, and sometimes he needs your daddy and his friends to help"

"Because they're so strong?"  
"Yes Gohan, because they're the strongest on the planet."

Gohan smiled.

"So daddy's going to go and help him?"

"Yes, Gohan, daddy might need to leave for a while" tears began to well up in chi chi's eyes. Tears for her poor son who might grow up without a father, and for herself, left all alone to raise little Gohan single handedly.

"That's ok. I mean, it's bad because I'll miss him, but it's ok because he'll come back and he will have saved the whole the world!" Gohan began to get excited. Chi chi smiled at how much he trusted his father to get the job done, or maybe he just didn't know how dangerous what Goku might have to do was.

Back in the living room, Goku and Kami sat down to get on with business

"So what is it Kami? Is piccolo up to his old tricks?"

"Nothing like that, Goku. To be honest I wish it were."

Goku frowned, that wasn't good

"So what is it?"

Kami sighed and wondered how to best approach this, the Frieza part would be easy enough but how to explain to him that he belonged to an alien race? Goku was famously slow to comprehend anything that didn't involve fighting

"Do you ever wonder who your parents were Goku?"

Goku's eyes opened wide and he blinked once, he hadn't expected that

"Um…. No?" he replied

"Well, I recently found out something quite surprising about your family" Goku didn't reply, but looked at him questioningly. "They weren't from this planet Goku, you're not human," he decided that being blunt was the best option

"I'm an alien?" Goku slowly replied

"Yes, Goku, you belong to a race known as the saiya jin, therefore you are naturally stronger than any human, you were born with a tail and with that tail you had the capability to transform into a giant ape at the sight of the full moon."

Goku looked at the floor, as if expecting to find answers to so any questions Kami guessed he must have.

"So… is that all?"

"No…" Kami trailed off

"So there is trouble" goku's face slipped back into his serious expression

"Yes, what I have to tell you may be difficult to believe, so just bare with me"

Goku nodded and listened very carefully as Kami explained his story of aliens, destinies and evil space pirates. And when he had finished all Goku could think was

'So that's why he needed Bulma' and he smiled.

Woo hoo! Chapter 7!!! Review PLEASE!!! I beg of you!!!


	9. Bulma Cracks

CHAPTER 8- 

CHAPTER 8- Bulma Cracks

Glad I could clear that up for you ne'tolme! 

~*Madison*~ I'm not really sure why you want to know but I'll tell you any way, I will be 19 on the 23rd of September! Aaargh, scary I'm getting old!

Firestarsolo, just for you the thoughts in this chapter are in italics!

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z!

Bulma yawned and crossed off another day on her calendar 

"239 long, long days to go!" she said to anyone who was listening

Vegeta looked up from his breakfast and 'humphed'

"Aw come on Vegeta I know you're counting down the days till you're alive again just like I am!"

"Perhaps" he muttered. He finished his breakfast and stood up to leave. Bulma yawned again

"Are you going out again already??" she half protested. Since she had taken her 'job' from Yama she had managed to bribe Vegeta into leaving him alone by threatening him with the withdrawal of her promise to resurrect him. However, when she had completed that task, Yama had assigned her to 'Vegeta watch'. Her new job was to follow him everywhere and make sure he didn't get into any mischief. Bulma thought this assignment was entirely pointless, she did nothing but watch him train all day long and risk serious injury as his opponents' ki blasts seemed to mysteriously stray in her direction every time. Vegeta obviously found it comical to see her terrified. 

Vegeta nodded and she wandered over to the door. Another draw back of her new job was that she had to get up as early as Vegeta and stay up as late; she was exhausted to say the least. Little did she know that Vegeta stayed up even later and got up even earlier for the sole purpose of keeping her tired. When she was tired, she was cranky and he could easily make her furious, he found her violent mood swings very entertaining.

This morning Vegeta was training with Bardock, Goku's doppelganger. Bulma was relieved, he didn't seem to want to see her in pain as much as the other saiya jin did, in fact he didn't acknowledge her presence on the battlefield at all. Bulma assumed that he was just eager to give 'his majesty' a good fight, and to please him and so he didn't have time for pleasantries.

They had met in their usual training spot, a large field with an orchard near by. Here they could have all out battles or play tactical games, hiding and hunting each other in the trees. Either way Bulma hated it here. It wasn't really the boredom, although there was nothing quite so dull as watching a fight were the two fighters moved too fast for the normal human eye to follow. The reason she hated this place was simply because it was out side the house, and everything outside the house reminded her that she was dead. She had noticed since she had started coming out to watch Vegeta train, that everything in this world was designed to be a replica of home, it wasn't a very good replica though. For a start the sky was an unnatural shade of pink and the clouds were custard yellow. This combination of colors hurt Bulma's eyes for a long time before she adjusted to them, another thing about the sky was that the clouds didn't move. There was no wind to move the clouds, or the leaves in the perfect, symmetrical trees; which perpetually bore fruit. Nothing moved, nothing changed, the plants didn't grow, they never stopped flowering and they would never die. To Bulma, if something never moved or changed and would never die, it wasn't alive at all. This whole world was as dead as her, and it made her ill. She guessed the original idea of having such 'perfect' surroundings was to make you comfortable and to take your mind off the fact that you're dead, it didn't work. Like a doctor's surgery that has magazines and posters in the waiting room to take your mind off whatever illness you've got, it only succeeded in reminding you of where you were. Who doesn't see a dog-eared, four month out of date magazine and think of waiting rooms? In the same way, Bulma couldn't look up at the perfectly still clouds or at the apples in their permanent place on the trees here and not think of her life being on hold. 

She sat down on the grass as Vegeta and Bardock began to stretch out, as if straining a muscle were the worst thing that could happen to them this fight. Bulma smiled at the pointlessness of this ritual. 

They finished warming up and nodded to each other that they were ready. They flew at each other at breakneck speed and started exchanging kicks and punches; Bardock was mostly on the defense though, trying desperately to keep up with the prince.

Bulma couldn't see a thing by this point and looked down at the perfect grass, every blade equal in length. She pulled a blade out and scowled in frustration as another appeared out of the ground to take it's place. Suddenly, she cracked, she pulled out blade after blade of grass in the same spot over and over again, convinced that it couldn't go on replenishing it self forever, eventually she sat back on her legs and sighed, they just kept coming. She looked around, hoping to find comfort in the pile of dead grass blades she should have produced as she frantically threw them over her shoulder, but she found nothing

"Wha…?" she rubbed her eyes, there was still nothing there, she knew now how Vegeta felt when he fought an enemy who was just too strong, who just kept rising out of the smoke clouds untouched no matter what you threw at him. She was fighting her own deadness, and the deadness in the world around her, and she couldn't even make a dent.

She began to sob

'I'm not ready to rest in peace! I hate it here… why can't I just have one thing to really remind me of home? Everything here is dead, but I'm not! I don't belong here!'

She screamed aloud in frustration and then looked up to see the two saiya jin staring at her like she'd gone insane

'That's ok, I probably am insane!'

She wanted to laugh out loud at herself for having such an out burst but instead she shouted over to the two saiya jin, who continued to stare

"Yes I'm losing my mind… YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT???" they both blinked, Vegeta shrugged 

"Ignore her, she's been teetering on the brink of lunacy since I met her," he said to Bardock

"WHAT DID YOU SAY??" Bulma roared

Vegeta smirked

"I said that you have mental health problems woman, but I'll understand if that's too difficult for your mind to understand, after all it does appear to be slowly rotting away to nothing!" he laughed cruelly

Bulma suddenly turned and ran, across the field and through the orchard, in the complete opposite direction to the house.

Vegeta let her go

"Crazy earthling woman" he turned to Bardock and smirked, but was surprised to see him still watching Bulma's running figure as it disappeared into the trees "something interesting Bardock?"

"Hn? Oh… no your majesty" Bardock quickly bowed and focused his mind back on the battle at hand.

Ok, I'm really, really sorry that I took so long to update (ok, so it wasn't that long but it was definitely longer than usual!), but I've been learning HTML code, and I've put up my own website for fan works inspired by dragon ball, the link should be on my author profile soon so be nice and go check it out!! Oh, and by the way REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!


	10. Yajarobe???

CHAPTER 9- Yajarobe

CHAPTER 9- Yajarobe???

Ok, yet again sorry for the late update! I've been working really hard on my web page, trying to drum up some interest in it, so I've had very little time!

VJ! I thought you'd lost interest! You're plan is working my friend!

Chibi tenshi senchi, I wrote that lightning bit in for you!

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z!

"Ok so, run me through that again" said Goku, scratching the back of his head in confusion. Kami sighed.

"Frieza will arrive here in approximately fourteen months, in eight months you will go to my home planet, namek, in search of the original dragon balls…"

"and who can I take with me?" interrupted Goku,

"what?" said Kami, perplexed at the idea of Goku being scared to go to a peaceful planet alone, he was never scared

"well, you know it might be a long trip, and it'd be nice to have someone to talk to!"

Kami breathed a sigh of relief, his faith in Goku's strength having been restored.

"you can take two people with you, the ship can't hold many more, it was really only designed to bring me here as a child." He replied

"oh, well I'll have to think about who I'll choose then…"

"yes, but not now Goku, there's more, I need you to pay attention!" Kami interrupted, Goku snapped back into reality and focused on Kami "when you gather the namekian dragon balls, you must call the dragon forth and make three wishes…"

"WOW! You can make three there???" Kami felt tired, 

"Goku, please just listen and save questions till later"

"ok, sorry!" Goku grinned

"your wishes will be to bring Bulma back and, now this is the complicated part, to bring back a man called Vegeta, he is a saiya jin like yourself, the prince of your race, and destined to kill Frieza." Kami stopped, Goku looked like he was going to burst "yes, you can ask questions now" Goku relaxed but immediately began his tirade of queries.

"why do we have to wait eight months to go to namek?"

"we need to wait for the earth's dragon balls to recharge so that we can repair the ship you will be using"

"why don't we just wish ourselves there?"  
"because, then only one person could go, and I don't want you getting lost alone somewhere in the vastness of space if something goes wrong, we need you Goku."

"oh, so why do we need this saiya jin prince guy to kill Frieza, I might be able to do it if I train hard enough!"

"you were not destined to do it, he has to do it to repair the discrepancies in the time line"

"ok, so what will we use the third wish on namek for??"

"we'll see, you might need it to repair your ship if your landing isn't a smooth one, or you might need to revive someone else if things go terribly wrong, if you don't need it for anything else, you could wish for Frieza's ship to take a little longer to reach earth and give us all a bit more time to prepare!"

"ok, anything else?"

Kami thought

"oh yes! There is one more thing, when Vegeta is wished back, he'll be wished back to a moon somewhere orbiting namek, you must take your ship and pick him up before you come home, you may find the journey home with him onboard a little… uncomfortable."

Goku blinked

"why??"

"he's a little stand offish, if you get my meaning, he's arrogant, selfish and rude, and he will expect you to treat him like royalty at all times."

Goku chuckled

"I'm sure we'll cope!"

"ever the optimist, Goku" chuckled Kami in return

"so, I should get to training I guess!"

"yes, but I have an idea of how you should train, I want you to go into the room of spirit and time,"

"that would save a lot of time" nodded Goku

"yes, but you and I both know that it will be very difficult to stay in there for a whole year on your own, I suggest you decide who to take to namek with you and take one of them in with you"

"good idea, I was thinking of taking Krillin, but I don't know who else. Tien won't want to go without Chaotsu, and vice versa, I suppose it'll have to be Yamcha."

Kami thought about this for a second

'Yamcha? I can't imagine what could happen on a ship containing Yamcha, Bulma's fiancé and Vegeta, her soul mate' he thought of many gruesome scenarios, all of which involved Yamcha meeting a premature grave.

"you mustn't take Yamcha" Kami sighed, now there was more explaining to do

"why ever not Kami?"

"there's more to this story, you see, Vegeta is Bulma's soul mate, they were destined to be together and have children together, in turn, their children were destined to be great protectors of this planet, and so they must be born. Therefore, right now Bulma is in the realm of the dead living with Vegeta."

"so Bulma and this Vegeta guy are in love???" Goku said in shock

"well… not yet, but destiny says they will be"

Goku thought for a second

"when will destiny give Yamcha a break? Gosh, the poor guy, he'll be crushed. Not that I'm not happy for Bulma mind…" Goku suddenly brightened

"yes, but it does give us a problem of who you'll take with you…"

"well let me see…" Goku looked up at the sky in thought

'master roshi's old, oolong would get scared, turtle can't really move around on land, Gohan's only a kid, chi chi needs to stay here to look after him, Tien and Chaotsu are inseparable… that leaves…'

Goku grinned and cheered 

"Yajarobe!!" Kami almost fell over

"YAJAROBE???" he repeated Goku's statement

"he's the only one free to go, everyone else is either too old, too scared, immobile or tied up with other people!"

"don't you think Yajarobe would be scared too??"

"yeah, but not as scared as oolong"

Kami thought for a minute

"you're right, Yajarobe is the only one with nothing better to do with his time…"

"did somebody say my name?" called a petulant voice from behind them

"Yajarobe!" Goku cheered happily

"what brings you here?" said Kami

"humph, Korin told me to come up here with some sensu beans for Goku, seeing as he's training to save the world and all!" Yajarobe ground out sarcastically, as always

"great sensus!! Thanks a lot Yajarobe!" Goku was still grinning like an idiot

"whatever, I've gotta go, Korin's making dinner cos he bet me that we would have a peaceful year next year, obviously he lost!"

"wait, Yajarobe, we need you for something" Kami began gravely

"it better be quick!" grumbled Yajarobe

"how would ya like to come to kami's home planet to hunt some dragon balls?" blurted out Goku before Kami got the chance to put it tactfully

Yajarobe suddenly looked very worried…

Yey!! Chapter 9, almost in double figures here!!! Any way, I got my web page up, so if you'd like to go visit it or even post some fan fiction or fan art there, its at-

[http://www.dreamwater.org/aoot][1]

review me by the way!!! ^_^ 

   [1]: http://www.dreamwater.org/aoot



	11. Jealousy

CHAPTER 10-

CHAPTER 10- Jealousy

Woo Hoo double figures!!! *Sigh* I don't know how long this will turn out to be, but at this rate… very long!

VJ, I love ya but you've must cut down on the reviewing! There's no point in getting over one hundred reviews if half of them are from the same person!! Not that I don't love the attention… besides I don't like the idea of you risking your life just to review me, even I'm scared of your sister and I've never met her!

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z

Bulma sat on the branch of a tree gently swinging her legs as she gazed non-plussed at the ground. She was tired; she'd been here for hours, although she wasn't sure how many. Her watch had disappeared from her wrist, probably snagged on a twig somewhere along the path she had taken as she madly scrambled through the orchard, which had turned into an unkempt forest once she got further in. This place suited Bulma's mood perfectly, even though she wasn't sure what mood she was in. she only knew she wanted to be alive again, and for some reason which she couldn't figure out she wished that Vegeta had come to find her. She pondered this for a while

_'Why would I want that? He's the one who made me cry, run away and climb up here in the first place! Then again there wasn't much he could have said at that moment that wouldn't have made me cry, I went nuts for a little while back there. Who knows, maybe I've lost it for good and any second now I'll loose control and do something crazy, like jump out of this tree' she tried to figure out how high up she was, but gave up and concluded __'very high up'. She was relieved to find, however, that she felt no urge to jump, and her brain was even functioning rationally enough to try and work out how exactly she would get down from here…_

Back at the house Vegeta stared hard at a tin of soup, and then at the contraption the woman usually used to open them lying on the table. He sat down on a chair and leaned in for a closer look. He picked up the contraption and prodded the can with it experimentally, that didn't work. He tried to hook the can onto it and pulled hard, breaking the contraption and ripping the can open, spilling its entire contents on the floor in one swift movement. He sighed…

Back in the woods Bulma had tried to climb down using the same route she'd used to climb up, and discovered that the branches didn't appear to be in the same place, and she was stuck, 

_'What now?' she thought, clinging to the tree's trunk for dear life __'only one thing for it'_

She took a deep breath and steadied herself

"VEGETA!!!!!"…

Back at the house Vegeta had cleaned the soup off himself and the floor and decided to go and find Bulma, but only because he was hungry. He reached the edge of the orchard she had run off into and was considering whether it was dignified for him to call her name, when he heard her half hoarse voice screeching from a distance

"HELP! VEGETA!!!" 

His heart jumped and he began to run through the forest following the faint sound of her voice. But then the calling stopped and all was eerily silent. He crouched in a battle position listening carefully for the sound of whatever had attacked the woman approaching.

'I'll rip its lungs out!' he mentally growled, too well trained to say it out loud.

He heard a twig snap under a foot, he braced himself as he saw something begin to emerge from the thick of the forest…

Bulma had been screaming for hours, her voice was about to give in, but as it turned out the branch that held her weight was the first thing to go. Sadly even the branches in the realm of the dead didn't regenerate fast enough to catch her and she plummeted to the ground. She closed her eyes tight and found that the only last thoughts she had were

'Maybe I should go on a diet?'

A pair of thick arms caught her just a foot from the ground and she looked up to find Goku's Doppelganger staring down at her with the confused look he only used when the prince wasn't watching… she assumed that Vegeta would think he was dumb if he saw that expression, but it reminded her of Goku so she happened to like it.

"Um… thank you" was all she said as she twisted uncomfortably in his arms… he wouldn't let go "… can I get down now?" she said, half doubting that he'd bother to answer her, wondering why he'd bothered to catch her.

She had hardly ever heard Bardock talk, only the occasional gruff muttering of some saiya jin 'wisdom' about pride and honor etc. Bulma immediately switched off when someone talked like that; she'd heard enough of it from Vegeta to last a lifetime

"You are injured" he said, and nodded slightly toward her leg, she looked down to find an ugly gash spreading down her calf, 

"Must have scratched it when I fell" she mumbled to herself, she concluded that she must have been too scared to feel it at the time, but it began to sting now she noticed it.

"I will carry you home" he stated

"Um… ok I guess" Bulma shrugged as he began to wander back toward the house…

Vegeta subconsciously began to growl as the figure approached, his frown deepened until he heard it speak.

"What got into you Vegeta? I know you get cranky when you don't eat but you look ready to kill!!" it was Bulma's voice, and as he continued to stare he could see she was being carried toward him by Bardock. He almost growled again, although he wasn't sure why. He stood up straight and replied simply

"I thought you were a wild animal approaching, I was about to kill you and eat you." He lied like the expert he was and smirked.

"Don't be silly Vegeta, there are no animals here and if there were you certainly wouldn't be able to kill them, just like you can't kill the plants." She said matter of factly

Bardock could see that the prince had been found out and so decided to interrupt before his pride was compromised

"You should show his majesty more respect and conserve your energy, you are injured after all," he half growled

"Injured?" said Vegeta, momentarily shocked "well you'd better still be fit to cook woman!"

Bulma sighed

"Whatever Vegeta, just let me bandage myself up first would ya?"

"Humph" he replied

The trio headed back to the house, with Bulma making futile attempts at normal conversation all the way, attempting to break the bizarre tension she felt between the two saiya jin.

Kami, who saw the whole episode, smiled to him self.

"What is it Kami?" Mr. Popo asked.

"Just a private joke Popo, you'd really have to see it for yourself to understand"

"Oh, that's ok" Popo wasn't disappointed, after all if Kami was happy that could only mean good things for all of them.

Yey! Chapter 10! REVIEW NOW!!! Seriously, you'd better review if you're hoping to find out what happens next…

"Is that a threat?" I hear you cry

"Why yes, yes it is!" is my only answer.

P.S. if any of you are at all talented artistically, and if you are a hug dragon ball fan, please visit my website!

[http://www.dreamwater.org/aoot][1]

Ja ne!

   [1]: http://www.dreamwater.org/aoot



	12. Bardock's Visit

CHAPTER 11- Bardock's Visit

CHAPTER 11- Bardock's Visit

Sorry it took so long, but I was waiting for ff.net to come back online before I wrote any more! I only got three reviews for the last chapter thanks to their technical problems, or whatever. How annoying, oh well on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z!

"209 days to go!" Bulma cried triumphantly, not even expecting Vegeta to answer. He rolled over on the couch and realized that he'd slept in. he growled in annoyance

"Why didn't you wake me woman???" he called out

"I lost my watch that time in the forest, remember? I only just woke up myself!" Bulma poked her head round the living room door, she was still in her pajamas, yesterday's make up was smudged on her face and her hair was a mess

"So I can see," muttered Vegeta quietly, not quite ready to have an argument yet, he would wait at least until after breakfast.

"What did you just say???" Bulma demanded angrily

"Nothing woman, now go and make breakfast, I have training to do" he half yawned.

"Humph" said Bulma as she turned on her heel and walked with her nose in the air to the kitchen. She cracked some eggs, 20 to be precise, fried some bacon and brewed a pot of coffee. She sat back and admired her work, five months ago she had no cooking skills whatsoever now she found that she knew how to cook breakfast for a whole human household, and more importantly what she cooked didn't taste half bad. 

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Bulma wandered over to answer it, one eye still on her cooking

"Who could this be?" she groaned as she turned the handle and pulled the door open to find none other than Bardock looking down at her. She jumped as she realized that she was still in her pajamas, and her bunny slippers 

'Kami, I haven't even brushed my teeth yet!' she blushed

"Um… hi Bardock, I guess you're wondering what happened to Vegeta this morning huh?"

"That is why I called" he replied hastily, looking away from her

"Well he…" she was broken off as a hand covered her mouth and pulled her back inside the house

"I had other things to attend to" Vegeta finished her sentence

Bulma fumed

"What? Now sleeping in a couple of hours is a sign of weakness as well? Give it a rest Vegeta, you're trying too hard!" Bulma turned back to attend to her bacon and eggs as Bardock saw a vein in Vegeta's head begin to throb

"Your majesty, I will excuse myself if you have no objections?" he said gruffly

"No Bardock, I demand that you stay and eat with us, that way I might be distracted enough not to kill the foolish wench before midday!!!" he spoke loud enough for Bulma to hear every word.

"Whatever Vegeta" Bulma shook her head as Bardock ducked to enter the house through the small back door. Vegeta was surprised and annoyed to find that it had not taken long for the woman to completely lose any fear she had of him, he had thought he would have been scary enough to keep her cowering for more than five months

'No matter, at least she learnt how to cook' he thought as he began to shovel food into his mouth

Bulma was about to sit and eat but remembered that she didn't feel comfortable around guests in her bunny slippers. She exited the room quickly to go and change into something more suitable

Vegeta noticed her swift exit 

"Must not be hungry' he thought out loud and turned to Bardock to see his gaze hovering over the doorway she had walked through

'Why must he continually stare like that??' he growled without thinking, causing Bardock to snap out of his thoughts and turn back to his breakfast, giving the prince a fleeting nervous glance as he did so. Vegeta was still annoyed however. Everyday for months he had caught Bardock staring at Bulma, even during sparring. He had started to spar with him less and less as a consequence, which was a shame seeing as Bardock was the only one with a brain in the entire saiya jin group he had discovered. They were all too weak to beat him, but still he preferred to fight someone with tactics rather than someone whose only thoughts during battle were probably

'Keep punching till he falls down'

Besides the fact that he couldn't get Bardock to concentrate while the woman was around, he also had a bizarre sickening feeling whenever he saw Bardock look at her. He was no fool, he knew what those looks meant, and he also knew what these feelings meant, not that he consciously accepted that they existed. He had a theory, however that if he forced Bulma and Bardock into each other's presence often enough, he would become dumb to the tedious emotions he was feeling and perhaps Bardock would even get so used to her presence that he didn't care to look at her any more. He knew it wasn't a great theory but it was less hard work than keeping them away from each other, and he wouldn't have to lose Bardock as a sparring partner.

Bulma reappeared and starred angrily at the empty plates littering the table

"You didn't leave me anything?"

Vegeta smirked, waiting for her immanent explosion, Bardock blinked and held up his plate, carrying on remaining strip of bacon, and one fried egg

Bulma looked down at him and smiled, taking the plate and sitting in the seat next to him at the table.

"At least somebody here is a gentleman!" Bulma sneered at Vegeta, who was now gaping at Bardock in absolute horror Bardock blushed.

'That traitor!' thought Vegeta 'how dare show kindness to a pathetic weakling earthling, especially in my presence!' he lifted himself abruptly out of his chair, muttered something highly insulting in saiya jin, obviously aimed at Bardock, and left through the back door.

Bulma looked up from her food

"What got into his majesty?" she asked Bardock, her voice dripping with sarcasm

"He called me a traitor, I think I should not have given you food"

"Ha ha!" Bulma laughed, Bardock looked up in shock

"Why do you laugh?" 

"Because, that is so dumb!"

"Humph" said Bardock, he sulked slightly. Although he wasn't pleased that the prince had called him a traitor he would still never go so far as to call him 'dumb', he was too loyal.

Bulma stopped and blinked at Bardock

"What?" he asked, unnerved

"Hm? Nothing, so Bardock, what did you do when you were alive? other than fighting and killing that is…"

"What do you mean? A saiya jin dedicates his life to battle, he has no time for any other interests"

"Yeah, yeah, 'saiya jin pride' blah blah blah" Bardock thought it would be best to interrupt her now before he had to listen to a full-blown rant about his race.

"I was a scientist," he blurted out. Bulma grinned

"Really??" she said excitedly

He nodded, slightly scared by her sudden reaction, but also quite flattered that she wanted to know…

There you go, chapter 11!!! Review!!!


	13. The Training Begins

CHAPTER 12- Training Begins

CHAPTER 12- Training Begins

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z or it's characters

It was hot, so hot that the sand dunes on the horizon appeared to be rippling, almost giving the illusion of water, like a mirage to trick those lost and wandering this scorching desert, with no hope of reaching civilization. Not that Yajarobe would know anything about how that feels; he'd only seen it on TV. He sat on a large rock with his legs crossed, gulping down most of their water supplies to replace the water he was losing through sweating profusely, not that he's done anything strenuous today.

He watched his companions leaping and punching, flying and kicking and occasionally stopping to congratulate each other, to give each other tips or just to take a rest from their training. 

'I'm glad Goku and Krillin are taking this whole thing seriously' he thought 'otherwise I'd have to and I really can't be bothered' he gulped down some more water and then lay on his back, staring up at the clear sky above. Then he noticed that the sun was directly overhead

'Lunch time!' was all he could think as he actually jogged over to the small encampment of tents that they had been living in for the past month. He hadn't bothered to call Goku and Krillin in, he wanted to grab something to eat first before he unleashed Goku on the kitchen. 

'Besides' he thought 'it's not like Goku would ever need a reminder that it's lunch time!'

He gathered together enough food for himself and sat down to eat. 

Back outside Goku turned to Krillin and said

"We should really break for lunch now"

"Just a few more minutes?" Krillin pleaded, he felt he was on a roll; he didn't want to stop now

"Krillin, I know you want to train hard this year but we need to eat, we've got to stay healthy or we'll get to weak to train!"

Krillin raised an eyebrow as he listened to his best friend go almost hysterical over the very idea of missing a meal.

"Ok Goku, I guess you're right, lets go eat before Yajarobe steals all the food and runs away with it."

The two friends wandered over to the tent. Both were fully aware that Yajarobe absolutely did not want to be here, and why would he? It was a given that he wasn't going to do any training while they were here so there was absolutely no point in his being there. Kami had insisted that they needed to learn to live and work together as a team, and that Yajarobe could do with learning some self-discipline, which was an essential part of surviving in desert conditions. As it was Yajarobe proved very good at avoiding any kind of self discipline, teamwork didn't exist in his mind and Goku and Krillin had to be resourceful and disciplined enough to make up for his failings.

Kami was smart enough come every day and give them enough food to last that day alone, so that Yajarobe wouldn't steal enough food to last him while he escaped across the desert. The problem with this was that it was difficult to estimate just how much food Goku could eat in a day, so a lot of things were quite strictly rationed out to each member of the group, such as eggs, bread and meats of all kinds.

As they sat down to eat, Krillin stopped to watch Goku for a little while

'The poor guy' he thought 'I just know he's missing chi chi and Gohan like crazy' Krillin was right, Goku missed his family, but he didn't feel too bad about it, he knew that what he was doing was to protect them and everyone else on the planet so that eventually he could return to his peaceful life in the mountains with them. Goku finished his first course and sighed

'I wonder what Gohan is doing now?' 

Hundreds of miles away, Gohan sat hunched over his desk, which was much too large for a five year old to work at, not that he had a choice at all. He had finished his work a while ago, he was a lot smarter than his mother knew, but he liked it this way, he had time to sit at his desk and draw or simply daydream before his mother would come in and look over his work. Right now she was cooking in the kitchen, while his grandfather laughed loudly at something on television, Gohan wanted to go and watch it with him but he was only allowed one hour of television a day, and he had used that up watching cartoons that morning. 

He let his pen wander freely over a clean page before he decided what to draw; a look of concentration crossed his face as he had an idea. He scribbled furiously and eventually sat back to look at his work, quite impressed with it. At that moment his mother walked in

"Gohan, have you finished now?" she asked sweetly. Gohan jumped a little

"Yes mom, all done, can I go play outside now?"

Chi chi smiled

"Of course, but don't go far dinner is nearly finished" Gohan leaped out of his chair and was outside before chi chi could say 'don't run in the house'. She shook her head

'Just like his father' she thought disapprovingly, but fought hard to stifle a grin. She looked down at her son's work, lying on top of his study books was a picture. It was a stickman drawing, but she could still tell what it was, Goku stood on top of the world with Gohan holding his hand and what she could only guess was her holding his other hand. She smiled and placed his work carefully on his bed and then sat down at his desk to mark his work.

Back in he desert, Goku had finished training for the day and was waiting up for Kami, who visited every night at about midnight to replenish their food supplies, surprisingly though it wasn't the food he was waiting for, it was news of Bulma. She had been dead for six months now, and he wondered if she had fallen for Vegeta yet, he felt sorry for Yamcha again and tried to organize the many questions in his head as he sensed Kami approaching.

Sooo sleepy, the next one won't take so long to come out, I promise!


	14. Friendship

CHAPTER 13- Friendship

CHAPTER 13- Friendship

Disclaimer: I do not own dragon ball z

"Friendship, was a concept devised to allow weaklings to band together for protection against the strong" Vegeta's voice rang out from behind Bardock. They stood in a clearing in the orchard where Bardock had thought they would be training today. Instead he was receiving a lecture. "Are you weak Bardock?"

"No, your majesty but…" Bardock's plea was silenced as Vegeta growled

"Don not cross me Bardock, I promise you the results would not be pretty!"

Bardock hung his head. He knew that if the prince was against it, he should feel ashamed for having made a friend, however he didn't feel anything of the sort and so was having a difficult time looking repentant for Vegeta's benefit. 

'Damn my face!' thought Bardock. He knew full well that he had the kind of face which could not help but betray every emotion he was feeling, unlike Vegeta who's face was nothing short of a mask which portrayed only the emotions he wanted to display, such as anger when it struck fear into the hearts of others, and smug confidence when in battle, even against a mortal enemy. Bardock knew that his inability to control such things was a sign of his lower class, something Vegeta was likely to despise even more than his lack of shame over recent incidents. 'In short, I'm in serious trouble' he sighed and continued to stare at the ground, hiding his tell tale face from the prince.

"Look at me when I speak to you third class!!" Vegeta suddenly shouted

Bardock slowly looked up, and Vegeta could instantly read the expression on his face. Yes, he was trying to look like he understood, who wouldn't? But it was plain as day in his eyes that he wanted to rebel the instant Vegeta turned his back on him again.

Vegeta inwardly sighed, he needed to get this message through to Bardock; he needed him to understand that he could not continue this, this relationship with the human woman. The more time they spent together, prattling on about science and other subjects that held little or no interest for him, the more he felt that sickening feeling in his gut. He knew what it was now, but he also knew that now, in this world, was not the time for him to do anything about it. In this world he could be watched, judged, decisions could be made about his immediate future based on his actions. To get involved with his more complicated emotions anywhere was difficult, here it was just plain creepy, and imprudent, something Vegeta rarely was except when it came to a good challenge.

"Bardock," Vegeta decided to change his approach "in a way, it is in your own best interests to sever contact with the woman." Bardock's eyes showed dread of what Vegeta was about to say "there is really nothing I can do to stop you from having contact with her, however, you must remember that when you become attached you gain a weakness, a weakness which you will pay dearly for in pain after she is gone, you would only have a 'friend' for five months and after that you will return to a solitary life. If you are prepared for this then by all means do what you please, now get out of my site!"

"Thank you my prince" Bardock sighed with absolute relief and was about to leave when Vegeta called after him.

"One more thing" Vegeta had suddenly remembered the only rule around here "do you love her?" he said harshly, almost mockingly

Bardock fidgeted in a very un-warrior like fashion and remembered that he could not lie if he didn't want to go straight to hell

"With all due respect your majesty…." He trailed of unsure of what to say, "is this really necessary?"

"Yes" replied Vegeta bluntly

"Then…" Bardock hesitated "the answer is yes. Although over time, I believe I will feel no more than friendship for her"

Vegeta snorted in disgust at Bardock's confession.

"Leave me now third class!"

Bardock did not answer but turned and left, deciding to avoid Bulma for a couple of days until the prince had had a chance to calm himself.

Vegeta stood alone in the clearing, staring up at the sky for what seemed like a very long time. He felt utterly lonely; he hadn't felt this way since Vegetasei was destroyed. He hadn't had time to feel this way, besides he had spent all of his time in the company of Nappa and Raditz, the biggest pair of idiots ever to walk the corridors of Frieza's mother ship. When he was with them, although he could not deny he enjoyed his job for the most part, he could only wish to be left alone for a few minutes. Instead he had to listen to them constantly asking him to repeat orders, as neither had any common sense to anything but what they were told to do, or enough brain cells to remember what they were told in the first place. Here, time was something he seemed to have an abundance of, nothing but endless free time, five months seemed like an eternity to Vegeta, who had spent the majority of his life constantly traveling from place to place, following orders from Frieza whilst constantly training to destroy him.

Eventually he started off back toward the house, speeding up just incase Bardock had disobeyed him and gone there after their little talk. 

Back at the house, Bulma stared at the calendar on the kitchen wall, there were 155 days to go now, not that the last two months had been as dull as those that came before. She smiled, Bardock was a person she could actually have a real conversation with, something she rarely found while she was alive, never mind in limbo

'He's almost as smart as me!' she thought 'hmmm, maybe he's not related to Goku after all' 

While he was still a saiya jin, she could only guess that time and loneliness in this place of limbo had softened him. He resisted joining in conversation with her at first, obviously nervous of what Vegeta would think, not to mention the fact that he hadn't had a proper conversation for about 20 years, 

'Fluffy little clouds don't have mouths to talk with' she thought, and giggled at the thought of the big, tough saiya jin having spent twenty years as a cute little cloud.

He let himself go though, and soon they would spend at least an hour each day deep in some sort of discussion. She looked forward to their meetings, despite the fact that she was made more than a little uncomfortable by his obvious attraction to her. She didn't mind having an admirer, but she could see that Vegeta was jealous, and this time she knew it wasn't just her ego playing up again. She didn't want Vegeta to hurt Bardock and she didn't want to make Vegeta feel jealous, she felt like she was cheating on him or messing him around, which didn't seem fair considering she didn't get the normal benefits of having a boyfriend, but had to put up with the draw backs. 

Right now Bulma wasn't sure how she felt about Vegeta; the truth was for all the time they spent together she didn't feel as if she truly knew him. She could read him like a book the majority of the time, but she knew nothing of his past, his life, and his family, anything apart from that he was a murderer, which didn't bode well. She sighed as she heard the front door open and slam

"Hi Vegeta!" she called out, out of habit

"Humph, have you seen Bardock today?"

"Not since you went to train with him" she replied, distracted with peeling potatoes for their evening meal

"Good"

Yey! A new chapter! Enjoy and review!


	15. Explanations

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 14- Explanations

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z

Kami was slowly pacing back and forth across the tiles of his look out. It was rare for him to lose his composure over anything, that was why he was so suited to his position as guardian, but right now Popo could clearly see beads of sweat forming on his skin and dripping down onto the tiles as he paced. Krillin sat on the steps of the temple, unable to relax

'Whatever has him so stressed out must be pretty serious… I wonder if the world's going to end? That must be it! Oh Kami no DON'T LET THE WORLD BE ENDING!' Krillin found himself continuously moving to the verge of absolute panic and then back to waiting on Kami's inevitable explanation. 

Yajarobe also watched with one quizzical eyebrow raised. For him, it seemed that the world was about to end every other day, but invariably some other poor sucker would come and save it, and he wouldn't be expected to lift a finger. For this reason it was only out of mild curiosity, and a lack of anything else to do, that he watched. 

Goku meanwhile didn't seem to have noticed a thing, as he still hadn't finished lunch.

Finally, Kami stopped pacing and sighed, all four of the other occupants of the lookout watched him carefully

"What is it Kami?" Goku said after swallowing a mouthful the size of a normal person's fist and finally realizing that there was some tension in the air around him.

"Things in the realm of the dead… aren't going to plan" Kami replied

'What does that mean?' thought Krillin, unsatisfied by the guardian's vague explanation

"In other words…" Kami continued, as if sensing Krillin's dissatisfaction "eight months have passed, we are running out of time and…" he trailed off, uncertain of how to explain 

"They still aren't together?" cried Goku in an unusually perceptive moment which caused his companions to turn and stare, before turning back to Kami 

Kami nodded, everyone sighed except for Goku

"I wouldn't worry about it" he grinned cheerfully, causing another round of astonished stares to be aimed at him. "I mean…" he sensed an explanation was in order "Bulma is really stubborn, and if this Vegeta guy is as stubborn as you said, then they could have feelings for each other but be too stubborn to do anything about it, plus Bulma probably knows she's being watched…"

Kami almost blushed, 

"Yes, well, they aren't being watched ALL the time, but it is necessary to check up on their progress occasionally…" he stammered

Goku blinked and continued

"Any way, I think if they really are soul mates, they'll find their own way to one another, and besides, if they just have feelings for each other that might be enough for Vegeta to come to earth to be with her, and to save the world of course…" he trailed off as he realized everyone was still staring "what is it you guys? Have I got food on my face?"

"No, there's no food on your face Goku, its just that what you said made a lot of sense" replied Krillin

Goku grinned happily

"Thanks Krillin!"

"No problem, buddy" he giggled

"Humph" said Yajarobe; "you see something new every day around here"

Kami smiled, Goku was right, there may still be hope for the plan, the only problem he had to face now was what was to be done about telling Bulma and Vegeta that there might be a slight wait before they can come back after their year was up. According to the plan, after the year was up, they would have to wait for the team to get to namek, and then for them to find the dragon balls before they could come back. Kami hadn't told them yet; he had been putting it off since he came up with the plan for fear of Bulma's inevitable wrath.

There were now 123 days to go, Bulma sighed and watched a scene unfolding outside the window, where Vegeta argued with an administrative ogre. All of a sudden she saw the ogres turn sharply get into his car and drive away back to the office, causing Vegeta to follow in rage, until he realized that he wasn't allowed at Yama's office anymore.

He screamed in frustration and then stormed up the garden path. Bulma ran over to the couch and sat down casually in an attempt to look as if she hadn't seen the whole thing.

Vegeta slammed the living room door and briefly marveled at the fact that now, when he was angry, somehow he would always find himself coming to talk to the woman.

Bulma looked up slowly 

"Whats up Vegeta? You look tense." She smiled innocently

"Tense?" Vegeta screeched, "tense??? That's putting it mildly woman! Have you any idea what kind of news I just received??" he questioned

"Vegeta, I didn't know that you'd received any news, never mind what kind it was!" Bulma replied

"Ha! Don't play innocent with me woman, I was fully aware that you were watching my little exchange with that pathetic ogre!" he smirked, half forgetting his news

Bulma flushed slightly

"Yeah, well…" she searched for a reply but found none "just tell me what went on Vegeta!"

"After our year is up" he began, "you won't be going back straight away, we'll both have to wait indefinitely"

"WHAT?!?!" Bulma roared "why? Why do we have to wait?"

"the little wimp wouldn't say, he was under orders to keep it a secret and he wouldn't squeal" Vegeta growled

Bulma paused for a second and then leaped off the couch screaming at the ceiling

"KAMI!!! If you can hear me now you'd better come straight here and give me an explanation! Do you hear me???" she paused for breath

Vegeta raised an eyebrow and wondered if she'd lost her mind again until a green man materialized next to where she stood with her hands on her hips and a dangerous look in her eye.

"I think you owe me an explanation Kami" she said, dangerously calm

"well, yes…" he began

"Who in blazes is this guy??" Vegeta pointed an accusing finger at Kami

"that's the guardian of my home planet, Vegeta, he created the dragon balls which I'm going to use to wish you back, so you'd better be quiet if you don't want to spend eternity in limbo." 

"humph" said Vegeta as he sat down on the couch

"any way…" continued Kami "basically, we're using the earth's dragon balls to wish for a space ship to fly Goku, Krillin and Yajarobe to namek, where they will gather another set of dragon balls with which you can make three wishes, two of which will be used to bring you two back to life at the same time." Kami took a breath "is that clear?"

Bulma blinked

"Yajarobe??"

Kami shrugged

"it was Goku's decision" Bulma rolled her eyes,

"figures" she sighed "so you're doing all this so Vegeta doesn't have to wait another year after I come back to be revived? That's a little odd if you don't mind me saying" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously

"well…" Kami searched for a reply "King Yama wants him out of here as soon as possible"

"that reminds me" Vegeta chipped in "I still haven't been told why I was moved out of hell in the first place" both Bulma and Vegeta now stared at Kami with identical narrow eyed glares

"all will be revealed when you are revived" he replied eerily as he disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, leaving Bulma and Vegeta to stare at each other in utter confusion.


	16. A Mission

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 15- A Mission

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z.

Thanks to all the people who like this fic for the good reviews, to those that don't TANT PIS.

'Another day, another cross on the calendar' Thought Bulma, as she ticked off another box and dully noted that they had reached the 93 day mark. She had really stopped caring about the numbers on her calendar since she found out that even when she ticked off the last box, she would still have to wait however long it took her friends to find the namekian dragon balls before she could go home 'and Kami only knows how long that'll take them without my help' she sighed and reminded herself once again that she had to remind Kami where exactly he could find her dragon radar.

She looked out of the window, hoping to see something that would interest her, but there was nothing. She felt herself growing roots, she would be stuck here forever in some kind of catatonic fit if she didn't get out of the quaint little cottage now. She needed a mission for the day, something to occupy her mind. It didn't take her long to think of one.

"Vegeta! I'm going for a walk! Cook your own breakfast!" she called to the still sleeping form on the couch. She saw him stir and then ran, knowing what his reaction would be when he realized exactly what she had said.

Once out of the house she pondered her self-inflicted mission for the day. She had decided to track down Bardock and find out exactly why he had been avoiding her. She inwardly hoped that he wasn't too easy to find, or she might have to think of something else to amuse herself with.

Vegeta had become accustomed to having a lie in since he had stopped sparring with Bardock. It had not been his choice to do so but, much to Vegeta's distaste, Bardock obviously found it painful to be around the woman under the circumstances and had asked to be permanently excused from such training sessions. Vegeta thought he was mad, no saiya jin had ever passed up the opportunity to train with royalty before, not even for fear of death. He spent his days getting up late, eating whatever breakfast the woman had cooked for him and then mercilessly beating one of the other saiya jin which he had had temporarily returned to their physical body. This was not exactly satisfying though, as most of them would have been evenly matched with Radditz, some may have been able to stand up to Nappa for a few hours before loosing out, but still, none where any kind of match for him, he was almost a legendary super saiya jin, after all.

He rolled over onto his back and thought briefly about what the woman had said a few minutes ago, trying to figure out what she had been trying to communicate to him through his haze of dream filled sleep. He had many recurring dreams at this time. Some inevitable ones about completing the transformation he had started before he died and then, of course, there were many about ripping, tearing, blasting, burning, pummeling or gouging out various parts of Frieza's body, but then there were the ones that he couldn't accept that he had, the ones about 'her'. In his waking hours it was impossible to determine how he felt, trying to filter out one clear, strong emotion through the thick blanket of boredom, and the apathy for everything and everyone that came with it, but in these dreams he felt things which he understood only through a faint instinct, things which he didn't think he was capable of, things which he would never express to anyone but her in this life or his impending next life. These things would have to wait; right now he had better things to concentrate on. 

He sat up with a start as he realized what she had said to him

"Cook?? DAMN HER!!!" he growled as he lifted himself out of bed and went for a shower, all the time plotting his revenge.

Meanwhile, Bulma continued her search.

'He shouldn't be too hard to spot, after all he is a large man in full armor amongst a bunch of fluffy clouds.' She thought as she wandered past the lake where clouds rowed boats, fished and picnicked. She could only wonder how clouds could enjoy a picnic without the ability to eat, or fishing when there were obviously no fish in the blood red lake. 

Suddenly she heard male laughter coming from over a hill to her left. 

She narrowed her eyes

'Saiya jin' she thought to herself. Although she liked Bardock a lot and suspected that she may have feelings for Vegeta, she couldn't help but feel nothing but contempt for the rest of the members of their race that she had come across (Goku, to her mind, didn't count).

'Rude, arrogant, sexist, dumb, ignorant, violent, barbaric' the list of their bad traits seemed to stretch on indefinitely. 'But they're my best shot at finding Bardock today' she thought as she wearily climbed the small hill, bracing herself for whatever insults lay ahead. 

As they came into view, she could see they were making full use of their restored bodies while they could by holding some form of wrestling contest. They all sat in a ring while two saiya jin in the middle battled it out, seemingly followed the 'anything goes' style of wrestling. She cringed as one of the combatants got the other in a headlock and then promptly bit down firmly on said other's scalp, drawing blood. She looked around the circle but found no Bardock.

'Darn, now I'll have to actually speak to these morons' she thought.

"Hey you!" she shouted, having mustered all the courage she held.

To her surprise, they all turned around to face her, though the look in their eyes was entirely unimpressed.

"Yeah you guys!" she faltered for a second under their many scrutinizing gazes "Has anyone seen Bardock??" she gulped as they all swapped confused glances.

Finally one stepped forward, taking great joy in towering above her he replied

"You are the princes woman aren't you?" he ground out

Bulma was taken aback and slightly abashed

"NO I AM NOT!" she whined, "Besides, what's that got to do with anything??"

"You should not be seeking the company of other men without his permission" came his reply, causing an uproar of coarse laughter to rise from the gathered saiya jin. 

Bulma rolled her eyes at this typical sexist joke

"Whatever, you've had your fun now answer the question!" her mouth was braver than her legs, obviously, as the latter began to tremble whilst waiting for a reaction to her words.

The saiya jin laughed at her pitiful come back, but replied despite himself

"You will find him in the woodlands" he growled

Bulma blinked 'that was relatively easy' she thought as she nodded and turned to leave, knowing enough about saiya jin by now to know that she shouldn't bother thanking him.

She set off toward the woodlands and Bardock, wondering how exactly she should weedle the answers out of him.

Vegeta meanwhile had forgotten about revenge during cooking breakfast and had begun to ponder where exactly the little female had gotten to. Since her sudden breakdown a few months ago Vegeta had taken it upon him self to learn a few basic cooking skills, incase of such emergencies, and had managed to whip him self up about forty sandwiches and a few bowls of soup from a can, he knew his limits. He began to wonder if she had gone quite mad again, and whether it would be wise to go and find her before Bardock did. He quickly curbed his 'pathetic' jealousy though and became quite certain that she had gone to harass Yama for something and that he should not let his imagination run away with him or allow him self to lose composure.

In the woodlands, Bulma had finally come across a clearing in which Bardock sat, meditating. She wondered to herself whether it was wise to interrupt. She had heard that if a person was deep enough into meditation and then got suddenly snapped out, they could have a heart attack. She then remembered why she had come here and got angry enough so that she didn't care.

"Hey you!" she shouted accusingly, but Bardock didn't move a muscle "Bardock??" she questioned a little more lightly "WAKE UP MONKEY BOY!!" she roared, still to no response.

Bardock mean while had been completely conscious of her presence ever since she entered the clearing, he just didn't want to be bothered with a confrontation right now, and so continued to fain a deep meditative state. That is until Bulma tried one of the oldest tricks she could think of

"I know you're awake in there Bardock, so stop kidding around ok?" she said, and in her own mind sounded doubtful but Bardock was entirely convinced that somehow she had seen through him. He opened his eyes and looked up at her angry face.

"Hello stranger" she hissed.

"Hello" he said softly, staring at the floor and waiting for the barrage of curses to begin

"You've been avoiding me, why?" she cut straight to the point, too tired from the day's hunting to bother with the art of keeping him in suspense.

"I cannot tell you" he replied

"Oh really? What or may I say whom is stopping you?" she knew Vegeta was involved in this somewhere.

"No one, it was my own choice" he still stared at the floor

"Yeah right! I know Vegeta is behind this, Bardock, so you might as well tell me what he said…"

"Fine!" Bardock interrupted, annoyed suddenly "the prince pointed out a few things to me which may have altered my view on certain situations, but he did not forbid me from seeing you, I forbade myself."

Bulma was confused

"Why would you chose to do that?" she blinked

"What is the point in having a friend for a few months only to revert to a state of total misery once they are gone? I am saving myself pain. Its ok for you, when you leave you go back to your family and friends and to your life, I will go back to hanging in senseless limbo alone" he looked away, ashamed at his outburst and not wanting her to see his face.

Bulma felt an overwhelming sadness for her friend.

"Well, I think that one day Yama will send you to heaven Bardock, and I know I'll be going there when my life is over, I mean, how many times does a person have to save the world before they become a saint?" she realized she was getting off track, cleared her throat and continued "so what I'm saying is that, perhaps you were sent to limbo so you could keep me company, and when I leave, you'll go to heaven and then I'll see you there again eventually, so its not like we won't be friends any more, just apart for a few decades" she finished and watched his face carefully for a response. Eventually he looked up at her and replied

"That was sentimental nonsense and only the weak would believe such a thing" but his face was grateful, and Bulma had refound her friend.


	17. Surprises

CHAPTER 16- Surprises

CHAPTER 16- Surprises

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z.

Sorry this took so long, but I've been out having a life, and I wasn't sure where to go with the story next, plus I'm not sure anyone is even reading this story any more! If you are reading and do want me to continue, let me know by writing to me at[angeloutoftime@another.com][1]

Any way, on with the story.

He didn't know how it had happened; he had gotten worried when Bulma didn't come home by dinnertime that day. He had given in to his "soft" side and gone out to find her and drag her home, getting directions from his loyal subjects he had headed for the woods to find her. What the idiots hadn't told him was why she had gone into the woods in the first place. Vegeta expected that she'd got herself stuck in a tree somewhere again, but when he got to her he saw what she had been looking for. He growled as he saw them both sitting cross-legged in the clearing, smiling and talking. He got close enough to hear them and then crouched behind a tree to listen, not even considering curbing his curiosity for a moment. He heard her laugh, a musical sound. She was talking about what she missed most in from her life. 

"… TV, I need some mindless entertainment right about now!! Ya know, some soap operas, a few talk shows, I always used to watch those, working for my dad it was easy to get time off to watch day time television when I wanted, especially seeing as I was his best worker, I am the smartest woman on my planet after all!" Bardock had nodded happily, despite not having a clue what she was talking about. He found her animated enthusiasm contagious even when she spoke about earth things which where alien to his saiya jin mind. Behind his tree, Vegeta smirked at her arrogance, although he did not doubt that she was pretty smart compared to other human females. "… and I miss my lab, I have countless projects that I haven't finished! That's probably why they put me in limbo, so I could realize just how much unfinished business I have back home!" she continued and then looked up at the sky "let me see, what else do I miss? Hmmmm…" Vegeta had been considering coming out from behind his tree, he felt faintly ridiculous and it wasn't as if they were talking about anything he couldn't be a party to. Just as he stood up, planning to fly up and appear above them, making Bardock feel foolish for not having sensed him, she continued "… YAMCHA!" she cried, "How could I forget Yamcha???"

"What's a Yamcha??" said Bardock, scratching his head in a very Goku-esque manner.

"Yamcha is my boyfriend back home" Bulma beamed cheerfully, both Vegeta and Bardock's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets

"Boyfriend???" said Bardock

'BOYFRIEND?!?!' Vegeta screamed inwardly

"Yeah, ya know, we go on dates, he buys me flowers, that kinda stuff"

Vegeta couldn't listen to any more; he flew back to the house with a sickly feeling in his stomach.

Now he sat in the kitchen a month later, while she was out somewhere with Bardock. The tension in the house had been palpable the last few weeks, and Vegeta estimated that there where still at least three months to go until they could leave, allowing a month for Bulma's friends to find the dragon balls. Vegeta briefly wondered how Bardock could stand to spend time with the woman, knowing that he could only be her sloppy seconds, that was no way for any saiya jin with pride to live. He wasn't sure how to feel, he no longer felt jealous of Bardock, other than that he didn't know whether o feel stupid or angry. He thought of every time he had had the faintest inkling that she felt the same way about him as he did for her, every sway of her hips as she strutted away from an argument, every little affectionate wink she gave him, much to his anger, every peace sign, every smile, everything. He didn't know whether he had read the situation wrongly or if she had just been leading him on, if he was a weakling and a fool or if she was a cruel slut. He couldn't imagine either to be true, and so he was left baffled, he didn't do baffled well. 

Bulma meanwhile was miserable. That day when she had nearly forgotten to mention Yamcha, she had realized that she hadn't missed him at all after the first two months in limbo, and now she didn't imagine seeing him as a major priority when she was finally revived. If anything, it made her realize that she had a stupidly large crush on her moody, arrogant, dangerous, grumpy-at-best house mate. She had been building up the courage to tell him that day, when she had come home to find him in the mother of all foul moods. Since then she hadn't found the courage, or the opportunity, to tell him. She could do nothing but stand by and watch as he glared at her like she'd killed his entire race, like she was the lizard man that he used to talk about, every single time she tried to speak to him. Even saying something as innocent as "what do you want for dinner?" got a growled reply and a door slammed in her face. How else could she feel but miserable? Every day she felt his rejection and realized that her feelings ran deeper than a crush, and every day he got more and more distant, disinterested and silent.

Bardock, meanwhile, had started afresh in his friendship with Bulma, all his old feelings forgotten, he even managed to comfort her on occasion when the prince had been particularly harsh, although he wasn't exactly great at it, most of their conversations followed the same pattern. Bulma would describe Vegeta's latest assault on her pride, and Bardock would scratch his head and reply

"He's just angry"

To which Bulma would reply with a shaky voice

"But what did I do?"

To which Bardock could only reply

"I have no idea, but it must have been bad"

And then she would cry, and he would pat her clumsily on the back and feel awkward.

Today though Bulma had a plan. She had decided to find out what was going on once and for all. Basically she planned to find a way to force him to speak to her, and then use the only rule of limbo to her advantage. He couldn't lie, no matter what she asked him, and if he couldn't get away he would have to reply.

The only problem was that, yet again, she had to find a way to stop an angry saiya jin from leaving the house. She thought about threatening to tell kami not to revive him, but she knew that she would want him revived no matter what, so she'd have to lie to say that herself. Before she could decide what to do, she found herself walking through the back door into her kitchen. He got up from his seat at the table as she entered the room and prepared to leave her presence, leaving her with an icy glare. Before he could leave he heard her speak

"Stop right there mister sulky!" she called 

'Mister sulky?? What was that Bulma?' she thought to herself, but realized she couldn't afford to think about that right now. He turned to face her with a look of absolute confusion in his eyes

"What did you just call me?" he hissed, Bulma shuddered

"Um, Mister Sulky… but I could call you mister sulky pants if you'd prefer your full name!" she retorted, realizing that her insults couldn't get much worse.

Vegeta rolled his eyes

"Pathetic woman!" he growled

"I know, but it got your attention" she smirked.

"And now, I'm leaving" he turned to do just that

"Don't go Vegeta!" 

"I'll do what I please woman!"

"But, I need to speak to you about something!" she whined pathetically

"Whatever it is I'm sure I don't care!" he barked as he reached the living room door and stalked inside, slamming the door.

Bulma wasn't about to give up though. She ran to then closed door, knowing that it would be locked

"Fine! I'll just shout it through the door shall I??" she screamed, high on pure adrenaline

There was no response, she persevered "I love you, you big dumb goon!" she screeched at the top of her lungs.

Inside the living room, Vegeta was furious; he flung the door off its hinges and screamed

"You lying slut! You say these things to me when I know you have a weakling boyfriend back on your pathetic home planet with the rest of your weakling race!!"

Bulma blinked at his insults, his words where harsh could feel no hatred in them. She knew she had him where she wanted him, now the questions could begin, and she knew just where to start

"Vegeta, are you jealous?" 

He stopped dead, his eyes went wide as he realized he couldn't lie, and would have to admit that he, the prince of the greatest warrior race in the known universe would have to admit he was jealous of a human man he had never met.

"Yes" he growled, against his will he found the word had formed in his mouth

Bulma was overjoyed, but she controlled herself for once, for the sake of Vegeta's pride.

"You don't need to be," she said softly

Vegeta growled and threw himself down on the couch, not liking the sentimental tone this conversation was taking.

"Really Vegeta, I don't know how you found out about Yamcha, but really that isn't a serious relationship. We met when we were just kids, we're good friends but if I'm honest, I haven't given him a moments thought for over eight months now, until the other day when I suddenly realized that I don't think we'll be going out for much longer after I get back, if at all. That really depends on you."

Vegeta felt his anger fading, against his will. He would rather have stayed angry than give in to this sickening display of emotion. He realized, though, that if he didn't take this opportunity he would only be shooting himself in the foot.

"I don't want you to see that man any more" he replied

"Well I'm afraid I can't avoid being around him, we share the same friends, but if you behave yourself I won't go out with him any more" Bulma replied with a smile and a wink.

Vegeta smirked

"Fine, it's a deal" he stood up abruptly with the intention of going to train, but suddenly realized that she was standing by the door, and so he really aught to do something affectionate on his way out. 

'I don't want to overdo it and give her the wrong idea though…' he thought

Bulma meanwhile watched his confused expression, wondering what on earth he could be thinking. Before she even knew he'd moved he was kissing her like he'd been waiting to do it all his life, she thought she was about to collapse from surprise, and from excessive butterfly-in-tummy syndrome, when he broke the kiss, smirked at her shocked expression and promptly left the house to go god knows where to do god knows what, just like any other day.

   [1]: mailto:angeloutoftime@another.com



	18. All Goes To Plan (for a change)

CHAPTER 17 Alexandra Hindley Normal Alexandra Hindley 2 93 2001-10-08T20:37:00Z 2001-10-08T20:37:00Z 3 1187 5196 101 46 6348 9.2720 

CHAPTER 17- All Goes To Plan (for a change)

 Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z!

Yajarobe waddled as quickly as he could through the halls of Kami's airborne palace. He was heading for the main courtyard area, but couldn't seem to find the way out. He normally wouldn't bother to hurry for a meeting like this, but he had a feeling that this might finally be the day when Kami gave up on this hair brained scheme to save the planet, and once again Yajarobe would be off the hook. Popo had said the meeting was important, and then disappeared down a corridor, Yajarobe had guessed he was supposed to follow him, but Popo was pretty stealthy and now he was left wandering alone in the dark recesses of this building.

As he huffed and puffed his way up another flight of stairs he spoke out loud to himself

"That Popo is one weird guy, disappearing like that, creepy" he shuddered "what is it with this place any way? It never looked this big from the outside!"

"Yajarobe?" came a voice suddenly behind him

"Wha..???" Yajarobe whirred around, terrified of what he might find. He quickly relaxed as he came face to face with a confused looking Goku. "Jeez Goku why d'ya wanna go and scare me like that huh?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, I have to stop sneaking up on people like that!" Goku scratched the back of his head and grinned widely and warmly, Yajarobe sighed.

"Whatever, do you know the way out of this maze?"

"Yeah, sure, it's just through here!" replied Goku, pointing to a door, which Yajarobe hadn't previously noticed in the dimly lit corridor. As Goku stepped to open it brilliant sunlight, 'the type you only get this high up' thought Yajarobe, burned his eyes.

They marched through the door and over to the others, who had been waiting for them to arrive. 

Popo looked up as they reached the group 

"Ah Yajarobe, I'm so glad you found your way!" he said with concern evident in his voice

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" he replied sulkily

"Yajarobe, don't be rude to Popo if you want to eat tonight" Kami said calmly, having learned to deal with his behavior over the last six months.

Yajarobe crossed his arms awkwardly and sulked. Krillin decided to pipe up before any further delays to the important news could arise

"So what did you want to say to us Kami?"

"Well," Kami cleared his throat and began to grin as everyone else present waited in great suspense

'We're not going to namek, we're not going to namek, we're not going to namek…' Yajarobe chanted in his head and crossed his fingers for luck

'Please don't be bad news, please don't be bad news, please don't be bad news…" Krillin chanted similarly.

Goku merely looked on determinedly, he was ready to go to namek, he had been for months. He had advanced as far as he was going to in his training without turning super saiya jin and now he was ready for an adventure.

" I have good news!" Kami finally started "Bulma appears to have discovered her soul mate and the plan is once again flowing smoothly! Everything is falling into place and, as long as the namek expedition goes well, then I think it's safe to say that earth will be saved!"

Goku and Krillin cheered at this while Yajarobe sank to the floor and slumped on his knees

"Just my rotten luck" he remarked to himself, knowing the others would be too busy celebrating to notice his cowardly frame of mind.

Finally the cheering stopped and Yajarobe's ears pricked up as he actually heard Kami the slave driver say 

"I think you deserve a week off to take some rest. Goku, go home to your family! Krillin, go sunbathe at Kame House and Yajarobe, go… do whatever it is you do for fun!"

And with that Goku took off to pay a surprise visit to Chi chi and Gohan, wondering all the way how much Gohan could've grown in the last few months, and whether Chi chi would be really mad at him or just pleased that he had come home.

Krillin nearly gave Master Roshi a heart attack when he walked through the front door, it seems with Bulma dead and Goku and himself in training, the so-called hermit had been actually living a hermit's life style for a change. 

Yajarobe, meanwhile, went back to sulking and slacking off at Korin's tower, much to Korin's displeasure.

On Mt. Paozu a young boy looked up from his maths homework and stared dreamily out of the window, yesterday was his fifth birthday and he began to wonder whether the wish he had made over his birthday candles had come true

'It really should do' he thought to himself 'I closed my eyes and blew them all out in one go, and I wouldn't tell what I wished, not even when mommy asked!' but these thoughts turned less hopeful as the day wore on and the sun began to set. But then, just as he was about to lose all hope he saw a small speck of light in the distant dusk sky, it grew larger and larger until he saw what was at the center of it. He gasped and dashed to the kitchen

"Mommy! Mommy!!" he shouted as he tugged fiercely on his mother's apron

"What is it Gohan? I'm very busy right now, your grandfather wants his dinner and I still have so much washing to do…"

"But mommy! My birthday wish came true!" 

Chi chi's face softened as she remembered her child's birthday party, she had tried so hard to make it seem like any other birthday, but without Goku there was undeniably a gaping hole in all their lives.

"What was that sweety?" she smiled

"Come see! Its outside!" he jumped up and down happily

Chi chi looked skeptical but followed her child to the yard any way.

Once outside she looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary, Gohan noticed her confused look and smiled

"Look up in the sky mommy!" chi chi obeyed and nearly fell over as she saw what could only be Goku headed straight for them, waving with a huge grin on his face. Her eyes grew wide and she looked at her son to confirm that he saw it to and she wasn't just hallucinating. But it was real and soon he was stood right before her, grinning like it had only been a week since his departure. 

"Hiya chi chi!" he beamed

She opened her mouth to say hi back, but all she could say was

"Where have you been? How dare you leave me here to raise our child single handedly! I wouldn't be surprised if Gohan turned out to be a complete hooligan with the example that you've set for him!"

"Sorry chi chi!" was all Goku could reply as she stormed back inside the house and he turned to his son

"Gosh, you've grown big Gohan!" he smiled

"You too daddy!" giggled Gohan in return.

Et voila, chapter 17! Ca ce bon, non? Merci beaucoup pour les e-mail, vous etes trop generous!

Ok, I can't speak French to save my life, I admit it and now I'm ready to move on ^_^;;


	19. Awaiting The Day

CHAPTER 18 Alexandra Hindley Normal Alexandra Hindley 3 118 2001-10-25T18:10:00Z 2001-10-25T18:17:00Z 1 1050 4623 82 26 7354 9.2720 

CHAPTER 18- Awaiting The Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of its wonderful characters!

- Yamcha, this isn't working out, I think I need some space

'No, that won't work, I've had a whole year of space!' Bulma drew a line through that option and tried again

- Yamcha, I've met someone new, he's a mass-murdering alien from Goku's home planet, but he's nice really. Yes, by the way Goku is an alien.

'Yeah, that's breaking it to him easy!' Bulma sighed and stared blankly at her page full of crossed out sentences.

She had been labouring over her diary for an hour now trying to work out the best way to let Yamcha down lightly. It seemed no easy option was going to present itself, no matter how long she worked. 

'Unless he's met someone new as well!' she was hopeful, but then dismissed the idea 'who could he possibly find to replace me?' 

She tapped her paper with her pen for a couple of minutes and then started scribbling again. Meanwhile Vegeta had wandered in, wondering what she could be working so hard over. He peered over her shoulder to read her most recently scribbled phrase.

- Yamcha, I've unselfishly decided to set you free to play the field (note to self: start crying here) I know it's what you've always wanted. This has been a very hard decision for me to make, but I think it's for the best (insert Yamcha's protests here) no, no, don't worry about me, somehow I will find a way to love again! Goodbye Yamcha!

Vegeta snorted, startling Bulma who had previously been unaware of his presence.

"Can't you do any better than that?" he smirked

"Can you??" Bulma snapped in reply.

"Sure, how about 'dear Yamcha, I'm dumping you because you are a loser and I found someone stronger'"

"Really sensitive Vegeta." Bulma rolled her eyes "besides, how do you know you're stronger than Yamcha? You've never met him never mind fought him!"

"Oh but I will." He smirked as he turned and left the room, his tail swaying mischievously behind

Bulma sighed, 'that's going to be a barrel of laughs when I get him home' she thought to her self in apprehension.

She was a month into her 'relationship' with Vegeta now, if it could even be called a relationship. They still argued, and she couldn't think of many very romantic moments they'd shared over the last month, the only difference to their previous relationship was that he got to boast about how strong/ intelligent/ witty he was night and day and she wasn't allowed to disagree, unless she wanted an even more irritating lecture about how a saiya-jin's mate must never offend his pride. On his home planet, he claimed, this was punishable by death.

Bulma shuddered

"What's the deal with calling me your 'mate' anyway? What are we? Wild animals? Monkeys maybe?" she had said to him once, she was met by the chilliest of glares, before remembering that Vegeta didn't take kindly to being called a monkey, thanks to the lizard man.

It was now only a month until her friends would embark on the expedition to namek, and Bulma felt more homesick than ever. For the first time since she met the z gang, they were going on a dragon ball hunt without her. She couldn't help feeling really depressed at the thought that they would actually be doing fine without her, they didn't need her like they used to, especially Goku. She gave a half laugh as she remembered how clueless he had once been, he'd never even seen a girl before her! But soon her thoughts turned back to sadness.

She couldn't fight the bad guys, they were too strong and not even her genius mind could come up with the technology to stop them, and now she wasn't even needed on the dragon ball hunt. Freiza, the lizard man, would come to her home planet one day (if only she had known how soon) and she was powerless to help her friends, or the man she was 'kind of sure' she loved. She gave a big sigh and tried to think consoling thoughts. Finally she found one

"I only have to put up with one space ship ride with Yajarobe!!" she laughed out loud.

Outside Vegeta was attempting to clear his mind before meditation, but Bulma's laughter broke his concentration, and his mind wandered back to what he was trying to clear his mind of.

He hated this waiting. As much as he was capable of it he 'liked' spending time with Bulma, but he still hated being in this place. All he could think of was his impending fight with Frieza, and it was driving him insane. He was as close to nervous as he'd ever been, while at the same time he was more eager than ever for their meeting to come.

In a way, he wished he'd never met Bulma, because now he had something to lose. If Frieza found out about 'the proud monkey prince' having a girlfriend, he'd have a field day. He loved to exploit weakness, that was what made him so terrible, the tiniest crack in Vegeta's emotional armor and he'd be dead, he was sure of it. Then there was the fact that he had to find a way to break it to Bulma that the first thing he would be doing when they were revived would not be, as she thought, settling down for a quiet life on earth with her, but chasing around half the galaxy trying to find, and destroy Frieza. The more he thought about it, the less impressed he realized she'd be. He closed his eyes and turned his face toward the ever present, warming sun. He eventually decided that his best option would be to not say a word until they were revived and had reached earth where he would find a space pod or some such technology, and then start his search before Bulma had time to object. He knew she couldn't stop him, but she could certainly give him a migraine.

Bulma finally put her pen down and decided that no amount of planning was going to make breaking up with Yamcha any easier. She smiled a sad, resigned smile to herself and wandered down the stairs to cook dinner before Vegeta ordered her to.

End of chapter 18!!!! Soon I will be in the twenties!!! I'm pretty sure no one is reading anymore, but ah well. It'll end eventually I promise!


	20. The Adventure Begins

Chapter 19- The adventure Begins Alexandra Hindley Normal Alexandra Hindley 2 81 2001-11-12T14:59:00Z 2001-11-12T16:20:00Z 2 1211 5485 92 31 6676 9.2720 

Chapter 19- The Adventure Begins

A year had passed, and yet again a group of friends was gathered around the seven dragon balls, which where now glowing brightly in response to Kami's commands. Kami himself could not help but feel a rush of pride as the dragon that he created so long ago emerged from its slumber, towered above them and rumbled "make your wish". 

Goku smiled to himself as he watched their space ship materialize in front of them. He could feel the adventure coming, it was all he could do to stop himself bouncing off the walls; he was like a child on Christmas Eve. This feeling was not entirely shared by his future crew, apprehension was heavy in the air, although he did not feel it as they boarded the ship and waved goodbye to their home planet.

They looked around for a while, their mouths hanging open. The dragon had obviously pulled out all the stops for Kami, there where separate bathroom and recreational facilities for all of them and even Goku couldn't have finished off all the food on board. 

"It didn't look this big from the outside" said Krillin suspiciously "there's definitely magic involved here" both Yajarobe and Goku nodded, gave an absent minded grunt and retired to their rooms to unpack for the estimated week long journey, Krillin shrugged his shoulders and followed suit. 

Goku flopped down on his mattress and grinned up at the ceiling, he looked over at his bag and realized that he couldn't be bothered to unpack while he still hadn't seen the training facilities on board. So he was back on his feet and off to explore the ship further. 

Krillin, meanwhile, carefully unpacked his clothes and put them away, only then realizing that he'd forgotten his toothbrush. He mentally slapped himself and imagined his teeth on the return journey, seeing green fur spilling out of his mouth. He soon recovered from this horrifying image, however, when he found the bathroom fully furnished with everything for his dental hygiene needs, along with any other needs he might have on the short trip. He finished his inspection and looked around, feeling lost. He couldn't help but feel nervous about the trip, and craved something to keep his mind of what might lie ahead. Feeling himself descending into panic already, he hurried off to find the training room, and Goku.

Yajarobe, safe in his room, hid his face in his hands and wept. 

'What am I doing here???' he mentally whined, but he knew the answer 'it's all Goku's fault! I could get eaten by aliens or lost or the ship could explode… I want to go home and I'M HUNGRY!!!'  He began to violently kick his bag around his room, imagining what he'd do to Goku, if he was a billion times stronger and a less moral person, of course.

Goku somersaulted mid air in ten times earth's normal gravity, it seemed the dragon had thought of everything, even a gravity altering machine for training. He stopped, having reached one hundred and stared out of the window. The sight of the stars rushing past him seemed oddly familiar, like he was traveling home 

'Strange to feel like that, it was so long ago, and I can't remember anything else.' He thought "heh, anyway, back to work" he spoke aloud, causing Krillin to cease his press ups, notice that Goku had stopped 

"Hey buddy, you want to go get something to eat? I'm starved!" Krillin seized his chance to take a break

"Huh? Food? Of course! I wonder what old shenlong packed for lunch?" Goku returned the gravity to normal and followed Krillin to the kitchen.

"I hope you're not expecting me to cook." Krillin stated, causing Goku to stop in his tracks. 

"You can't cook?" he said, with a small gulp.

"They should be setting off about now" said Bulma, staring up at the sky, imagining for a moment that it was the sky of her home planet, and that she could see them up there waving. Then she snapped out of it, worrying that her time as a kind of honorary dead person had sent her slightly insane. She turned back to the living room, seeing a brief flash of interest in Vegeta's face. She knew that she had his attention, so she carried on. "It should take them about a week to get there, according to Kami. But once they get there it's anyone's guess how long it'll take. With Goku's speed, you would've thought it'd only take a week at the most, but it never turns out to be that simple…" she trailed off as old memories of rabbit gangs, desert bandits, countless evil tyrants and Goku as a giant monkey roamed freely in her mind.

Vegeta supposed he should reply before she sank into one of her homesick moods again. Granted, she was quieter in these moods, but she also punctuated the sighs with endless angst filled sighs, which Vegeta found endlessly irritating.

"So it should be no more than two weeks?" he said, in what he hoped was a vaguely optimistic tone. Bulma snapped out of her daydreams and replied

"I just told you, it's never that simple." She broke into a smile "something always comes up, it's like those balls are cursed or something…" she trailed off dreamily and stared without focus out of the window into the sky that she had grown to despise over the last year.

Vegeta gave up and decided to get out of the house before he started reminiscing too. 

'Not exactly my idea of fun' he thought, and went to find another saiyajin to beat up. They were all only too willing, knowing that their time with their bodies was drawing to a close, and soon they would go back to aimless floating in endless limbo.

One saiyajin was suffering more than most at this thought, and he passed Vegeta on his way up the path leading to Bulma's front door.

He bowed low

"Get up Bardock" Vegeta snapped in return. He scrambled to his feet. "Where, need I ask, are you heading when I have sparring to do?" Bardock looked up sharply. Vegeta knew he was here to say a kind of goodbye to Bulma, but he didn't like it. 

'I will permit it though' he thought 'if only to keep her quiet for the next few weeks'

"I was heading to visit Bulma, your majesty" Bardock mumbled, refusing to lie.

"Don't ever call my mate by name in my presence Bardock, I don't even use her name, why should you?" he sneered cruelly.

Bardock wondered briefly what on earth he was supposed to call her if he couldn't use her name.

While he thought, though Vegeta simply rolled his eyes and snapped

"Go on, go and say your sentimental goodbyes, but then I demand you spar with me like a real saiyajin!" he growled and marched off toward the encampment where the rest of the Saiyajin could be found, most probably already engrossed in battle.

Bardock sighed as he watched him leave, then turned and headed back up to Bulma's front door, wondering if it would be proper to call her by her name when Vegeta was not present.

Hope you enjoyed! Things start to speed up from here on, I know this story has been a little slow so far, I promise I'll make up for it soon!


	21. Bardock and Bulma???

Chapter 20- Bardock and Bulma??

Disclaimer: I do not own dragon ball or it's characters.

Bardock reached the front door, gave a small knock, but realized that Vegeta had left the door swinging open on his way out in his haste to get training. He pushed it open and wandered through the kitchen. He walked through the tiny hallway, his head nearly brushing the ceiling, which moved higher in anticipation of his possible "injury". He heard a sigh come from the living room and turned right, through the door to the room. There sat Bulma, chin resting on her hands, staring out of the window and up into the sky. He cleared his throat, hoping to get her attention without shocking her, and triggering her formidable temper. When she didn't stir, he wondered if he should speak, remembering he was no longer permitted to call her by name. Before he could decide, she lifted herself off the chair she had been occupying since she first wandered down stairs that morning. She turned in his direction and started slightly, her eyes growing wide for a second before she realized who stood before her and calmed visibly, her mouth growing into a wide grin. 

"Hiya Bardock!" she chirped

"Um, hi… woman" her smile disappeared.

"What did you just call me?" she snapped, Bardock squirmed uncomfortably.

"I am no longer permitted to call you by your name" he grumbled slightly.

"Why on earth not?" she was getting angrier, her brows furrowed drastically.

"His majesty claims that it is inappropriate for me to do so."

Her frown melted

"Well you can just ignore him, he's just jealous and trying to make you feel stupid"

"Ok, Bulma" he replied with a mischievous grin, yet again reminding her so much of Goku in his child like sweetness. She began to reminisce again, remembering her brief crush on Goku, after he reappeared from training for the tenka'ichi budokai, no longer a "shrimp" as she so often put it, but as a grown man. She blushed and marveled how much Bardock resembled him, standing there staring at her with a quizzical look on his face.

'A quizzical look?' she suddenly realized 'oh god, I've just been lost in day dreams with him standing there like a spare part, he must think I'm mad!' she pulled herself out of her happy trance.

"Sorry about that, just wandered off onto memory lane for a second there, do you want some coffee or something?" she giggled nervously.

"I…" Bardock began

"No of course, what was I thinking? You don't drink coffee! 'My body is a temple' and all that nonsense…" she rambled nervously

'Why am I nervous all of a sudden?' she thought, frantic to regain control of her own mind.

"Temple?" was all Bardock could think of to say in reply.

"Oh, never mind, its an earth saying… kind of means you like to take care of yourself and stay in good condition."

"Well, thank you then" he grinned

"No, no, it's not really a compliment…" Bardock's face fell, while Bulma fell into a blush. "I need a coffee" she changed the subject and hurried off to the safety of the kitchen to regain her composure.

The quizzical look was planted firmly back on Bardock's face as he watched her disappear from the room and looked around for a space to sit down. He chose the armchair furthest from the window and began to ponder her bizarre behavior.

'Just before, she fell silent and she was staring at me. Her eyes went all glazed over and then she seemed to come to her senses and get embarrassed… it was almost like… NO! I mustn't think such things!' he growled quietly at himself and tried to clear his mind of such ridiculous fantasies. But the little nagging voice persisted in an endless chant

'Take your chance… you'll never see her again… what if? What if? What if?' he concentrated harder to eradicate the voice, but nothing seemed to help. 

In the kitchen, Bulma stirred her sugarless coffee; she figured she didn't need to be any more hyperactive than she already was.

'What's gotten into me? What's gotten me so worked up? I feel like I've got a crush on Bardock…' she gulped 

"That's bad, that's very, very, bad." She said aloud. She took a deep breath and decided to say goodbye to Bardock as quickly as she could, to avoid any complicated issues coming up. She walked back into the living room, determined to keep her composure, and to not spill her coffee all over the place.

 "So" she started "how are you feeling today?" she asked, before realizing how dumb she was to ask that question to guy who was about to lose his body and become a fluffy cloud for all eternity.

"Ok, I suppose." Bardock grunted, not looking at her. She saw a bead of sweat gathering on one of his temples. She paused, pondering his response.

"That was a blatant lie!" she screeched

"Yeah, well, that was a stupid question!" Bardock screeched back, much to her surprise. He had never raised his voice to her before. She felt tears springing to her eyes. Here she was with a friend who had kept her sane for a year now, and all they could do on their last day together was get awkward and fight.

"That was uncalled for Bardock, how was I supposed to know what to say?" she managed to squeeze the words out before tears broke free and ran down her face. Bardock shifted uneasily

'This isn't exactly going to plan' he thought briefly, before going to Bulma's side and cradling her.

She sobbed a little before calming and looking up at him.

"We can't spend our last day together like this," she said very quietly.

"I know" he replied, lifting her to her feet. "What do you suggest instead?" Bulma looked up sharply, looking into his eyes for added meaning in his words. She saw none, and smiled with relief. She thought for a second and then, in a much happier tone replied

"How about we go harass Yama? I have a suggestion for him!" she grinned mischievously as a plan formed in her head. Bardock looked warily at her for a second, wondering what on earth she could have in mind, but agreed to follow her anyway.

Meanwhile, somewhere in deep space.

"What do you call this?" 

"Food, what else?"

"Yajarobe, you said you could cook!!"

"Are you trying to start a fight baldy?"

"Yeah, ok, lets go!"

"Um, not right now, I'm um… eating, yeah!"

"Well there's a surprise."

"I think it tastes good"

"Goku, just stay out of this ok pal?"

Oh dear, what was going on with Bulma and Bardock? Will our brave space adventurers ever get a decent meal? Watch this space!

A.N. I would just like to thank everyone for the positive comments and encouragement I've received via reviews and e mail, I won't be giving up on this fic any time soon now that I know you're still out there ^_^ oh, and please don't ask me when the new chapter will be out, I don't have a comprehensive plan and I don't like it when people show me up for the disorganized waste of space I truly am *blushes* thank you.


	22. Spoiled Children

Chapter 21- Spoiled Children

Disclaimer: I don't own dragon ball z, I'm not making any money yada yada yada.

Yama sat back at his desk and sighed

'Another job well done' he thought to himself as he looked down at the huge pile of papers on his desk, finally he was on top of things. Since Freiza was due to arrive in their quadrant within the next four months, he knew the grim truth was that pretty soon they'd be busier than ever. He shook his head to remove such unpleasant thoughts from his mind.

"Time for a short knap I think" he grinned and looked around his office and listened carefully "all quiet" he yawned and closed his eyes.

Almost immediately he heard a commotion outside his office. He sat up with a jolt as his huge doors where flung open by a large saiya jin. 

"I'm so sorry King Yama, they wouldn't wait for an appointment!" called a frantic administration ogre from outside. Yama ignored him.

"Bardock!" he said as he realized who stood in his doorway.

"Sorry sir" said Bardock sheepishly.

"Don't apologize to him!" called a shrill voice from behind him; Yama groaned as he realized his day was about to get worse.

"What an earth do you think you're doing Miss Briefs?" he rumbled, attempting to put her off.

"You know full well what I'm here for" Bulma called, stepping out from behind Bardock, to glare at him. 

"No, I don't, now I suggest you stop wasting my time and tell me what exactly you're up to!" he growled.

Bulma gulped, her confidence wavered but she didn't let Yama know this.

"I want some justice for Bardock!" she retorted.

Bardock looked at the floor. Up until now he hadn't even known what she'd been up to, and now he was worried, the way things where going he'd be going straight to hell.

"It is not for you to tell me how to treat any soul justly! I am the master of the realm of the dead! How dare you presume to tell me…" Bulma decided to change tack before he exploded.

"Yes, I know, but you've been very busy lately, I've noticed" she smiled sweetly "and you may not have noticed how well behaved Bardock has been since I got here" 

Yama frowned, but decided that he should just give up and hope she would finish soon.

"Get to the point Miss Briefs" he sighed, suddenly calm again.

She grinned

"I want you to send Bardock to heaven" 

Yama sputtered

"Wha… what? Send a repeated Murderer to heaven?"

"What he did was part of the saiya jin tradition, are you going to discriminate against him because of his race?"

"Its not a question of race, it's a question of what he's done"

"Well, obviously you weren't sure where to send him when he… um… passed away, otherwise you wouldn't have sent him to limbo!"

"True…" Yama pondered this for a second…

'Why didn't we send Bardock to hell?' he thought. He couldn't remember.

"Ha! There, you admit that you weren't sure! And all he's done is become a better person this last year I've known him! He's a reformed character!" she pleaded.

"Bardock, do you regret your actions during your life?" Yama turned to the saiya jin with a scrutinizing gaze

"Yes, but I had little choice at the time. Frieza…" he trailed off

"I remember now! You tried to save your planet from Frieza!"

"Yes, yes I did"

"Very noble of you"

"Thank you" Bardock mumbled.

"Very well, when your time in your body is over, you will be sent to heaven"

"YEY!!" Bulma ran to hug Bardock, who stood stock-still and stared in disbelief at the grinning ogre king.

Somewhere in deep space, a vessel shot toward its destination. Inside, Goku and Krillin continued to train, although Krillin spent most of his time in awe of Goku's rapid improvement.

"How does he do it?" he wondered as he watched his friend and once rival bounce of the walls of the gravity chamber, hardly breaking a sweat despite the weight of his entire body pulling on him in fifty times normal gravity. Krillin himself was only just getting used to walking around in this gravity, but Goku took to the extra effort like a duck to water. 

'I can't even keep up with him anymore' he thought, sadly, but he was still relieved that he couldn't imagine anything in this world defeating a man with as much determination as his best friend.

Suddenly Goku stopped, and looked round at him, a large grin spread across his face.

"Lunch?" he said simply, Krillin blinked, he'd been expecting to hear something deep and meaningful, probably because his own mood was so thoughtful recently.

"Yeah, sure" he grinned back and switched the machine off.

They headed for the kitchen to find Yajarobe stuffing his face as usual.

"Honestly Yajarobe I can't see how you can stand to eat all day like that, especially seeing as it's your cooking!" Krillin laughed.

Yajarobe hardly looked up from his sandwich

"I told you not to joke about my cooking already." he grumbled and carried on.

Krillin and Goku looked at each other, shrugged and set about cooking their own lunch.

Sitting down to the table with his meal Krillin began to worry that he might be too nervous to eat. They were due to touch down on Namek tomorrow morning; they'd been shooting through space for almost a week. He tried to tear his mind away from what monsters they might find on Namek.

'Ok, so Kami is a good guy, but what if the rest of the race turn out to be like Piccolo?' Krillin thought, with a shudder. He shook the thoughts off and bit into his sandwich.

Somewhere else in space, a much larger ship traveled in the opposite direction. Zarbon marched through the corridors of the ship, looking unfazed as Frieza's furious voice rang through the air over the ship's radio system.

"Zarbon! Get here right now! Do you hear me? I don't like to be kept waiting!" he snarled into the microphone as Zarbon finally entered the room and bowed low.

"Get off the floor Zarbon!"

Zarbon stood up as quickly as possible, Frieza sneered.

"Do you know why you're here Zarbon?"

"No master Frieza, I have no idea" 

'He's using my name too much, that's a bad sign, I could be a pile of ashes any moment if I say the wrong thing' Zarbon was frantic, although his outer appearance portrayed nothing of the sort.

"Well, Zarbon. I have been informed by a crew member, who as of five minutes ago is no longer with us, that it could take two months to reach the next reasonably inhabited planet cluster." 

Zarbon stayed frozen to the spot, standing to attention.

"Would you care to explain why that is?" Frieza finished

"Well, sir" Zarbon began, so as not to keep his master waiting "this is the shortest route toward a cluster of planets you said you were eager to visit as soon as possible, unfortunately the route happens to take us through some relatively uninhabited space before we reach them"

Frieza sighed.

"Do you mean to say that I should be deprived of fun for two whole months Zarbon?"

"I'm very sorry sir, you yourself approved the route six months ago and…" Frieza cut him off

"You are dismissed Zarbon, be thankful you are more useful to me alive!" he stated sharply. Zarbon bowed, turned on his heal and left the room immediately, remarking how restless his master had been since he had exterminated the last of the saiya jin. 

At first, there had been celebrations and rejoicing that Frieza had defeated Vegeta, the "legendary super saiya jin" threat that had hung over his head for so long, but now it seemed his drive was gone. He was no longer such an impressive leader, more a spoiled child with more power than he would ever need. Zarbon sighed to himself as he re entered his chambers

"What will become of us?" he thought aloud.


	23. A Change Of Scenery

Chapter 22- A Change Of Scenery

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball or Disney for that matter, not that there's any mention of such childish nonsense here.

Krillin stood alone, or so he thought. It was pitch black so he couldn't really know. He stretched his senses as far as he could, trying to pick up something to indicate where he was, how he got here. Suddenly a jolt of cold terror ran up his spine as he realized that he was most definitely not alone, he felt something cold brush the skin of his forearm, his eyes widened in panic. He began to hyperventilate as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could make out the towering forms of the creatures before him. He couldn't make out specific features but somehow his mind knew they where Namekians, all of them more vicious than Piccolo himself. In a flash he saw his own body lying dead in the changing rooms of the tenkaichi budokai stadium. Tears welled up in his eyes as the creatures advanced, shaking the ground with each step until it shook so violently that he fell to the ground, crying out with pain as he… woke up.

"Huh?" Krillin looked around him at the light and comfortable surroundings of his room on the ship. He appeared to have fallen out of bed, seconds later he understood why. Just as in his dream the floor beneath him shook so violently that his newly wakened mind thought that the "Namekians" must have been stood right behind him. He froze for a second until the dream left him totally, and common sense kicked in. 

He ran over to the window and was shocked to find that all he could see was green. No stars and darkness, but bright, grass green. At this point Goku practically fell through his bedroom door, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin yet again. 

"Krillin! We're landing!" he roared over the din of the whole ship's vibrations. He was skipping from foot to foot like an excited child.

"I just about gathered that!" Krillin roared back "perhaps we should go buckle ourselves in!" Goku gave him a puzzled look, which meant he obviously hadn't been able to hear him. Just as Krillin opened his mouth to repeat himself, the shaking stopped.

"Wha-?" they both exclaimed in unison as they ran to the window. They were rewarded with the site of an attractive landscape coming into view, stranger than any they'd seem before. If they were expecting something out of a sci fi film, they weren't to be disappointed. The sky and water where grass green, while the "grass", or what appeared to be akin to grass, was sky blue. 

"Trippy eh Goku?" 

"Sure is Krillin, let's go wake Yajirobe, I think the ship knows how to land itself"

'Thank Kami for that' thought Krillin as he tried to imagine Goku landing a space ship. 'Goku's no rocket scientist' he thought, congratulating himself on his "excellent" pun.

They pounded on Yajirobe's door for a good ten minutes before he answered the door, groggy eyed and half dressed. Both Krillin and Goku flinched at the sight of him before Goku managed to squeeze out 

"Yajirobe, we're landing… go… get dressed or something"

To which Yajirobe replied

"Whatever" before slamming his door in their face, leaving them to guess what he would do next. They exchanged glances and shrugged.

"Don't ask me Goku, you invited him" said Krillin

"Yeah, but it was either him or Gohan, and Chichi didn't like that idea" Krillin roled his eyes as they both set off for the main control room to wait for landing. It was only then that he realized he was still only in his pajamas.

"Um, Goku, I'm going to get dressed, it might be cold on this planet"

"Sure Krillin, but hurry up! You don't want to miss the landing do ya?"

"I'll hurry" Krillin smiled as Goku eagerly took up a seat next to the window.

If Goku was excited to begin with, it soon wore off as the ship took a whole hour coming in to land. 

"The planet must've been further away than it looked" said Goku dully as he stared expressionless out of the window

"Maybe there's just a lot more to landing a ship than either of us know about," replied Krillin.

"Maybe you two should shut up and let me eat in peace" Yajirobe called sulkily from behind.

Krillin scowled

"If I was quiet every time you ate I might as well take a vow of silence!"

"I don't see why you already haven't monk boy!"

"Knock it off you two" Goku said calmly "we're about to…"

He was interrupted as the ship jolted violently, throwing the two arguing parties to the floor on top of one another. 

"Thanks for the warning Goku" Krillin groaned, pulling himself off of Yajirobe.

"No problem Krillin! Now lets get outside and see what's there!"

"Yeah, right behind ya Goku" Krillin said less than enthusiastically, as he pulled the dragon radar from his pocket.

"How about you Yajirobe?" said Goku, but they turned to find no trace of Yajirobe. "Strange" said Goku quizzically "he must've already gone outside or something"

"We really should have brought Gohan" said Krillin "even a four year old's gotta be more useful than that bum"

Meanwhile, in limbo…

Bulma sighed as she read through a pamphlet on the health spar for the dead. She was waiting for Kami to arrive to update her on the group's progress on Namek.

Vegeta turned to see the bored expression on her face

"I see your missing Bardock," he hissed, narrowing his eyes slightly

"Huh?" Bulma looked up confused "he's only been gone a day Vegeta, but for your information I'm sure that I will miss Bardock at some point, he was my friend after all"

"Humph" Vegeta crossed his arms defensively "a saiya jin and an earthling friends, disgraceful"

Bulma lifted an eyebrow

"And what exactly is our relationship?" 

"That's different, I'm a prince, and I do as I chose"

"Whatever Vegeta, it all sounds like double standards to me. If it makes you feel better I'd rather be here with you than in heaven with Bardock" she smiled

"Sentimental nonsense" Vegeta muttered under his breath before stalking out of the room, although he did allow himself a small victory smirk as he went to find something to blow up.

Bulma returned to her reading and sighed to herself

"He's so restless recently. I hope Goku finds those dragon balls soon."

Just as she said this Kami materialized in front of her

"Well, speak of the devil!" Bulma grinned 

"Good afternoon Bulma, and how are you today?" Kami said amiably

Bulma sighed

"Bored, mentally numbed, frustrated and restless." She replied

"Hardly surprising, it has been over a year after all. Perhaps I should have a word with King Yama, see if we can get you a change of scenery!" he smiled knowingly

"What have you got planned?" cried a suddenly very enthusiastic Bulma.

"I won't say until I can make promises, it'd be cruel otherwise!"

"You've got a point, I suppose" she said, calm again suddenly "thanks for thinking of us"

"No problem. Anyway, back to business" Kami took a seat next to her on the couch. "The team have just arrived on Namek today, I've been getting some vague pictures of what's going on there using telepathy to see through each of the team's eyes, although all I can see through Yajirobe's is his next meal." They both chuckled lightly "what I've glimpsed through Krillin and Goku's eyes is very exciting, I don't remember my home planet you know, its fascinating to see it… anyway back to the point. I think they shall soon meet some of the planet's inhabitants and hopefully tomorrow, the search will begin in earnest." He finished

"It's such a relief to know that finally something's getting done! I finally have a hope of getting out of here in the near future!" she smiled with relief and then giggled as she began to imagine what it'd be like to take Vegeta home to her parents. Kami soon interrupted her thoughts

"I'd better be going now, I'll try to sort out that change of scenery for you, and I'll get back to you tomorrow most probably!"

"Yeah, thanks a lot Kami, I really appreciate all you've done for us!"

"Well, you know… just doing my job!" he replied, suddenly nervous as he remembered that Bulma still had no idea what this was all about, or that the man she loved was going to be thrown into the most difficult battle of his life shortly after she returned to her home planet. He felt deep sympathy for her as she waved goodbye to him, her eyes full of gratitude that he was suddenly unsure that he deserved.

These thoughts still cluttered his mind as he rematerialized in King Yama's office and stated plainly

"Sir, I'm afraid I need another favor from you"

Back on Namek…

Krillin pressed the button on top of the radar twice and silently prayed that the balls here showed up. His prayers where answered as seven bright spot glowed up at him. However, he began to feel a little edgy upon realizing that four of the balls where gathered together.

"That's strange," he said to himself

"What is Krillin?" Goku stopped looking for Yajirobe and turned a concerned eye to his friend.

"Four of the dragon balls are in the same place. I mean, I know they scatter randomly so technically they could have landed together coincidentally… but somehow I doubt it"

"That's ok Krillin, the Nameks must have them! We just need to find a village or something and then we can explain what we want them for… I'm sure they'll be reasonable about it!" Goku grinned reassuringly, but after last night's nightmares, Krillin wasn't going to be easily reassured. Truth be told, he'd hoped to get through all of this without bumping into any Nameks. He shuddered and thought he felt a presence behind him

'Stupid dream's got me paranoid!' he thought to himself, but then everything went black.

Krillin woke to find himself in a dimly lit cavern of some sort; he froze as he heard the familiar rumbling sound from his dream. Slowly he turned toward the source of the sound, only to find it was merely Goku snoring loudly a meter away from him. He wandered over to his friend and shook him, hard.

"Goku! Wake up! The Nameks have got us! I told you they'd be like Piccolo! Didn't I tell you?" Goku slowly opened his eyes, yawned and got up.

"The Nameks have got us? I thought I just fell asleep!"

"Look around you Goku, who d'you think dragged us here? Yajirobe?" Krillin stated sarcastically.

"Yeah, this looks like some kinda prison cell" he said as a creaking sound came from behind them.

Krillin leaped behind Goku as a creature who looked very much like a slightly overweight Kami entered the room through a door that they had previously thought was part of the cavern's stone walls. Krillin shut his eyes tightly, expecting the worst, Goku scratched his head and waited for the creature to make a move

"Greetings" it said in perfect English "I am Muuri, and you must be Krillin and Goku?"

"Yeah, that's us, nice to meet you" Goku smiled

"Ah… ah… we come in peace?" Krillin said nervously, slowly daring to edge closer to Muuri.

"Oh heavens yes, we know you do! I'm sorry about the harsh measures but we had to be sure that you weren't from Freiza! But where are my manners? Lets leave this room and discuss everything in some more friendly surroundings eh?"

"Sure" said the two as Muuri smiled and lead the way. 

There, it's been a while but this chapter was extra long ^_~ by my standards anyway!

Hope you enjoyed!


	24. Looking To The Future

Chapter 23- Looking to the Future

A.N. Ok, so it's been a while since I gave a special mention to the people who keep me writing this fic… the reviewers!!! Here goes…

VJ- long time no review! I was worried that maybe your sister had gone ssj on you again (or that you'd lost interest O.o)

Moongoddes- don't worry, I too am a self confessed incurable veggieholic, I won't make him look bad ^_^

Pheonix + anyone else who's interested, yes I do have a mailing list, just e mail me at angeloutoftime@another.com and let me know, alternatively you could sign the guest book at my site (http://www.dreamwater.org/aoot) and leave your e mail address to let me know… whatever is easier!

Everyone else who reviews frequently – I know who you are, I do remember you, I know your names, but I hate it when authors write long A.N.'s instead of getting on with the story! So without further ado….

Disclaimer: I don't own it, so don't sue J

Muuri lead them to a small candlelit room containing a simple table with four chairs around it, made out of what appeared to be wood. He motioned for them to sit down, which they gladly did.

"So" Muuri started "I suppose you're wondering what happened and how you got here?"

"Yeah, not to mention where exactly 'here' is" muttered Krillin suspiciously.

Muuri laughed

"We meant no harm, we simply used mind control techniques to make you pass out and then brought you here, to our underground shelter, while Guru searched your minds for evil." He smiled at them as if this would make everything crystal clear.

"Um… so are you always so suspicious of guests or what?" Krillin raised an eyebrow

"Yeah, or maybe you've never seen anyone who's not green before! Is that it?" Goku grinned. Muuri, however, suddenly turned very serious.

"We have seen people of other races before, and unfortunately past experience has lead us to act as we do. We are a naturally friendly and trusting people, but we have seen many horrors in the last two years, we have become nervous of outsiders." His eyes were sad

"What happened?" Krillin said, suddenly concerned.

"Frieza" was Muuri's simple reply.

"He's been here?" Goku said, shocked.

"Yes, and while here he managed to destroy over three quarters of our race, our beautiful landscape was ransacked and our trust and peace was destroyed, I fear, forever"

"But why?" Krillin asked, while he felt Goku's rage building at the thought of the injustices.

"He wants to sell our planet, he attempted to exterminate our race and destroy our villages in order to prepare the planet for sale."

"That's terrible," the earthlings gasped

"Yes, but luckily he failed. We used the dragon balls to bring a huge storm to the planet, terrible enough to drive even Frieza and his men away. In the process, those who forfeited their place in this shelter to make the wish where killed, so ferocious was the storm they conjured. Once it cleared, we had two more wishes; with these we restored the natural beauty of the planet and the lives of those who had not been dead for over a year. However, this did not apply to many, Frieza was here for over a year and killed most of our number in the first three weeks, leaving only the most fortunate and stealthy of us to live in hiding for the rest of the time."

"It's so unfair!" said Goku, now shaking with rage "if only we'd been here!"

"There would have been little you could have done, Frieza is a monster like no other in this universe. Only one creature has come close to matching him, and that creature is the one you seek to revive"

"How did you know about Vegeta?" Krillin gasped

"He was killed in a fight which took place on one of our very own moons. The moon was destroyed in the process, we are most grateful to him for not facing Frieza down here on Namek, he will be welcomed here once he is wished back."

"Gosh, that Guru guy really did a good job of reading our minds!" Goku laughed

"Yes, but I'm sure you understand why we found it necessary!" Muuri smiled

"Of course, but back to the dragon ball hunt, will you help us?" Krillin asked eagerly

"Any plan to rid the universe of Frieza is a plan backed by every Namekian left standing" Muuri replied, his tone heavy again. All three nodded in appreciation. Their peace was interrupted by a commotion outside the room.

"Excuse me for a second gentlemen, I must find out what the racket is!" Muuri frowned and left the room, returning moments later with a twisting, clawing ball of hair.

"Let go of me green man, or I'll slice you in two!" it growled in a very familiar petulant tone

"Yajirobe?"  The earthlings cried

"Huh?" the ball ceased it's raging, Yajirobe lifted his head and Muuri released him. 

"This gentleman was found pounding on our front door demanding we release you!" Muuri smiled

"Really Yajirobe? That was kind of brave!" said Goku proudly.

"Yeah well" Yajirobe began grudgingly "I saw em take you away and knew you'd probably need me to save the day AGAIN"

"Thanks Yajirobe, but it's ok, these guys are good guys!" Krillin grinned

"Well lucky for them, 'cos otherwise I'd be chopping them into itty bitty pieces right now with my superior swordsmanship skills!"  

 "'Course ya would Yajirobe!" smiled Goku. "But now I think we have to leave, I'm starved!"

"Yeah, good idea Goku, we'll start the hunt tomorrow" Krillin agreed as they got up to leave.

Yajirobe shrugged, any idea involving food was fine by him.

"Just head left out of the gates and keep going straight, you should find your ship with little difficulty," Muuri beamed "and come back tomorrow, I'm sure you'll find lots of experienced dragon ball hunters to help you, plus Guru is eager to speak with you!"

 "Will do!" Goku returned his smile and the team headed out into the night.

In Yama's office…

"Another favor? Honestly Kami, how many times a week do I have to bail you out?" Yama scowled

"I only want one more thing of you and then you won't see me, Vegeta or Bulma again until one of them dies" Kami replied, knowing how to tempt Yama into a deal was a useful skill indeed.

"I'm listening, but make it quick, I have sleep to catch up on" 

Kami took a deep breath

"I want to move Vegeta and Bulma out of limbo" he smiled

"If you think I'm sending Vegeta to heaven just yet you're insane, the man's lucky enough to be out of hell no matter what his future is!"

"No, not heaven, I simply want to move them to my lookout"

"WHAT????" 

Kami was unfazed, he had predicted this reaction and was well prepared.

"Do you know what will happen if Vegeta stays here much longer? He might well go insane, and therefore be little use in saving the universe or restoring the correct order of time, on the other hand he may stay sane and continue to terrorize every soul in limbo, thus causing it to be no longer limbo but hell, upsetting the balance of the whole system!"

Yama's head hurt, he hated speaking to Kami, the green man always seemed to fill his head with too many "bigger picture" thoughts.

"FINE! JUST GET OUT OF HERE AND GIVE ME SOME PEACE!" he yelled in frustration. Kami simply bowed and left, hearing Yama mutter "ogre get me an aspirin! Damn green bean…"

Kami smiled. Now he had done something to deserve Bulma's thanks. 

Yes, I know it was short, but it's a kinda chapter between two chapters if you get what I mean! Anyway… review or die!!! Moo ha ha ha!


	25. Lover's Tiff

CHAPTER 24 – Lover's Tiff

'Another beautiful day to be dead' Bulma thought somewhat bitterly as she dragged her curtains open and stormed downstairs. Something was really bothering her, nagging in the back of her mind, causing her to wake up irritable even after a decent nights sleep (which was a difficult thing to get in a place where it never went dark). She knew she had a problem, but she didn't want to admit that to herself. If she admitted it she'd have to fix it, and this problem didn't have to do with machines or bad guys, which meant she was fresh out of ideas.

She poked her head around the living room door and found Vegeta still asleep on the couch 

'Where he has slept every night since we got here.' Bulma thought irritably, telling herself she was only bothered because she couldn't sit in the living room before midday, when his royal highness would roll out of bed and demand breakfast. Really, however, she knew something else was eating her, and it had to do with her problem… she shook her head as if to physically push the unpleasant thought to the back of her mind, and went to get a head start on the cooking

'It's not like I've got anything else to do!' she thought as she grabbed a frying pan with a scowl that could turn milk sour.

Around midday, as she predicted, Vegeta wandered into the kitchen and took his seat, still rapped in his blankets

'And nothing else…' thought Bulma as she surveyed him through the corner of her eye, taking in his half exposed chest. She didn't usually stare at men like this, why would she bother? She'd been surrounded by enough muscle bound he men in her time to figure out that as far as boyfriends went, muscles had nothing on brains. Her problem tugged at her mind, demanding her attention yet again. She almost growled with frustration, before realizing that Vegeta was still very much in the room.

She served him his food 'just like a good little wife' she thought to herself as he inhaled his food with skill, never dropping a morsel or even looking up at his waitress.

Bulma sighed for the first time that day 'the first of many' she thought sadly, and took her seat opposite Vegeta. She pondered the idea of trying to play footsie with him while he ate, but then imagined all-too-clearly what his reaction would be

'What do you think you're doing woman?' the imaginary Vegeta in Bulma's head began 'can't you see I'm busy? I have no time for your earthling games!'

She turned to the clock and wondered how she should pass the six remaining hours before Kami came to give her an update 

'And maybe even a change of scenery' she managed a small smile at the prospect.

"What are you so cheery about this morning" a gruff voice called, she turned to see its owner, who had now finished his breakfast and was staring intently at her.

"Nothing" she said quietly and tried to find something else in the room to focus her attention on. She had decided not to say anything to Vegeta about Kami's idea, not that she knew much about it herself, she thought he'd probably become quite destructive if it fell through. Luckily for her, Vegeta didn't pursue the issue and instead rose to leave the house, to go and do whatever he did with himself all day. He paused awkwardly before passing her. Much to Bulma's surprise he leant down and kissed her on the cheek before disappearing, or moving away too quickly for him to be visible by the human eye, Bulma wasn't sure which. 

She smiled slightly before realizing that she was alone

'Great' she thought 'just me, an empty house and my problem for the next six hours'

She tried to get into a book, or look through leaflets to find out more about the land of the dead, or even learn to cook, but in the end she crumbled and give in to the urge to brood over her problem. Eventually she decided that she would haven to confront Vegeta when he got back, before she lost her nerve or went insane from thinking about it.

Vegeta sat in his favorite tree staring off into space and pondering his living situation. He liked the tree because he was pretty sure that it was the same one Bulma climbed when she went "a little floopy" as she liked to put it. As for his living situation, he wasn't quite sure what to think. If he was honest with himself the majority of his thoughts centered on his female housemate.

'One minute she's grinning like the village idiot, the next she's all sighs and pathetic glances' he shook his head 'something is bothering her and I somehow doubt that it is merely boredom. Is it possible that she regrets her decision to…' he drew a blank right there, what had she done? Become his girlfriend? He snarled at the alien term and ignored that question for now 'her decision to confess her feelings to me' he finished and then pondered this idea 'surely not, from what I've heard of her previous…' there it was again did he dare to call himself her boyfriend? Yet again he pushed the thought away, dismissing it as unimportant '…Yamcha' he continued 'I think it's safe to assume that if only by comparison she should be more than pleased to have me as her… partner. But what else could be bothering her?' He put it down to concern for her friends mixed with impatience to get back to the land of the living. He could surely relate to the second thought. This last couple of months he had done nothing but train to keep himself at the level he could not seem to surpass without turning super saiya jin, attempt fruitlessly to get himself into what he believed was the correct frame of mind to do so or alternatively spend large amounts of time sitting in this tree.

'Anything rather than be cooped up in that house with that woman' he thought to himself, not that he didn't like Bulma's company, he just didn't want to be half way through pummeling Frieza and suddenly feel the urge to offer him coffee and ask what the gossip was with him and Zarbon. He shuddered at the thought of becoming soft under her influence. He also didn't want her making attempts to lure him into consecrating their union, to put it politely. Not that the idea wasn't appealing, but to his mind such things where purposeful, to produce a child, not merely for 'fun' as these earthlings seemed to view it, and he certainly wasn't thinking about producing an heir until Frieza was well on his way to hell with a good few of his little lackeys in tow. No, such things would have to wait till the appropriate time, just like everything else he had put on hold for the whole of his life in order to focus on destroying his childhood tormentor. Somehow though, he hadn't been able to put Bulma on hold, even though every time he kissed her he inwardly scolded himself for being so irrational, just like he began to scold himself now as he realized that he had wasted a good few hours pondering the meaning behind her recent moods.

Back at the house, Bulma had been sat watching the clock for a solid hour by the time Vegeta returned. As he walked through the door he was surprised by the troubled look on her face,

"What's your problem? Did the little green man cancel your meeting tonight?" he smirked, hoping that an argument would help her let off steam as it had so often done in their year here.

"No Vegeta, as far as I know Kami is still coming tonight, and don't even pretend that you're not as eager as me to find out how their doing" she sighed heavily and looked up at him. His smirk faded, replaced by a confused scowl.

"What's wrong with you?" he said bluntly

She sighed again and let out a humorless chuckle

"Do you really want to know?" she asked in a small voice

Vegeta actually considered this for a second before nodding yes

"Well," she started "you see, I have questions I need to ask… things I need settling before… before we go on, like we are"

Vegeta relaxed a little, questions weren't so bad for someone who had an answer for everything. He took a seat and crossed his arms

"Fire away" he smirked.

She paused, building the courage to look at him before asking

"Vegeta, what am I to you?" 

His face dropped slightly

"What do you mean by that? You're an earthling female, what else would you be?"

"Don't be difficult Vegeta" 

He panicked a little, she seemed to be losing patience fast, and he failed to see how his response was inappropriate.

"Difficult? You asked me a question and I answered it to the best of my knowledge!" he growled

"Fine, then try this one, am I your girlfriend?" she watched him intently for a response, he seemed displeased to say the least.

"Woman, that term has no meaning or relevance to me. It is an earthling term and as you frequently forget, I'm no earthling!" he replied heatedly, pointing to his tail for emphasis.

She nodded her understanding and tried again

"I just need to know where I stand, Vegeta" she averted her gaze, expecting the worst.

Vegeta was lost for words. He considered playing dumb and replying something along the lines of 'in the kitchen', but thought better of it. If he were being honest, he'd have admitted to himself that he was scared. He knew if he said the wrong thing she would react very badly, and not in an amusing way.

She stared up at him again; confused that this was taking him so long. He almost visibly squirmed under her gaze, knowing he had to say something soon, his frustration lead inevitably to anger.

"Why must you ask?!" he growled, "how dare you ask? Are you a fool? I am soon to be the most powerful being in the universe, I did not need to tolerate you as I have…"

"Tolerate me?!" Bulma spat back as she shot out of her seat, fury evident on her face "do you often kiss people that you 'tolerate' as you so nicely put it? Darn it Vegeta, I thought you cared!" and with that she burst into tears and ran from the house, leaving the door swinging open behind her.

"Well, that went well" he sneered to the empty room.

O.o yes, I'm leaving it there… and it'll stay there for a looong time if you don't review ^_^ I love being evil.


	26. Let's Get Out Of Here!

CHAPTER 25 – Lets Get Out Of Here!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z!

Vegeta battled with his thoughts.

'Should I follow her? Or just leave her be?' he growled lightly, this whole thing was throwing him into an area in which he had no form of expertise. No one had ever expected this much from him before, but she knew little of his bloody and gruesome past 'what did she expect from me? A gushing declaration of… 'Love'?' he shuddered at the image of himself all doe eyed and emotional.

"Foolish woman" he muttered to himself as he stormed out of the house. 

'I'm not looking for her' he told his pride 'I'm just getting out to clear my head and if I happen to bump into her then so be it' but he already knew where he was heading, and he already knew she'd be there.

Seconds later Kami materialized in the living room of the house. Confusion crossed his face, as he saw no Bulma eagerly awaiting his arrival

'Strange' he thought 'perhaps she's feeling more relaxed about the whole thing now that the gang are on Namek and proceeding well.' 

He wandered into the kitchen, and then the bathroom, and then up to the bedroom, but was perturbed to find still there was no evidence of Bulma.

"Hello?" he called doubtfully through the house. No answer.

He sighed heavily as he sat down on the living room sofa.

'This does not bode well' he thought as he prepared himself for a long wait.

It was morning on Namek, and the brave explorers where off to gather the natives willing to help them in their hunt. Yajarobe, having decided that the green men posed no threat, had decided to join his shipmates.

"how much further till we get to the Namek's hide out?" he whined

"not long now Yajarobe, just around this bend" Goku replied excitably

seconds later the grassy mound of a hill under which the Nameks dwelt came into view and Krillin and Goku shared a smile of anticipation. They couldn't deny that as kids, the dragon ball hunts often supplied some real adventures, 'stories to tell the grandkids' as Krillin would put it. 

Before they could even ponder how to find the hidden entrance, a crowd of Nameks filed out, all obviously as excited as Goku.

"what are those freaks so happy about this morning?" Yajarobe grumbled, he wasn't planning for anyone to hear, but Muuri quickly responded with a hearty laugh

"on this planet, the dragon ball hunt is an old and sacred tradition, reserved for those with virtuous intent. In the olden days it would bring about great benefits for the whole of Namek kind!" he smiled

"wow, sounds like Christmas!" Krillin laughed

Goku nodded his agreement, while the Namek party stared at him blankly

"let us continue with the search!" Muuri broke the awkward silence.

Everyone cheered in agreement, and Goku produced the dragon radar from the folds of his GI, pressing the button on top twice to zoom in on the closest ball.

"that way!" He pointed in its general direction

Krillin nodded and rose into the air, glancing back uncertainly to be sure that their alien companions could fly, sighing in relief when they solemnly rose into the air with him.

"hey wait a minute!" Yajarobe called to the figures flying off into the air "What am I supposed to do?"

Goku looked back and shrugged

"don't you have a hover car or something? You don't usually leave home without one!"

"no!" Yajarobe sulked "I left it at the ship"

Goku sighed

"well, maybe you could get dinner ready while we're gone eh? That would be useful, dragon ball hunting is hard work! I'm going to have one hell of an appetite when I get back!" He grinned amiably

"whatever" Yajarobe continued to sulk as the party continued their flight.

The flight for the first dragon ball wasn't exactly a thrilling one. Much of the landscape was only just restoring itself after the barbaric treatment it received at the hands of Frieza. Much of the land was now regaining its soft covering of blue grass, however it was evident every so often that they where passing a crater that used to be a village. Goku struggled to keep from getting angry. It was pointless after all, Vegeta had to be the one to rid the universe of Frieza, or the natural path of time would never be restored. 

On the up side, he couldn't imagine having much trouble finding the dragon balls on such a relatively baron planet. He had seen no wildlife, no other alien races, he was pretty certain that they where the only ones interested in finding the balls. How hard could it be with no opposition?

Goku was right, the first ball was simply lying at the bottom of a crater, waiting to be taken, the second they found in a tree, the third was a little tricky. It turned out the planet did have some wildlife left, underwater. The third dragon ball had been swallowed by the mother of all whales, and the Namekians doubted even the super strong earthlings could take it on. But sure enough, Goku lifted the whale out of the water without too much difficulty, allowing Krillin to enter through its mouth and find the precious cargo its stomach contained. It was all over it seconds and the whale was literally thrown back to the depths, soaking the Namekians and causing Goku to offer a sheepish "sorry" before they all decided to retire for the day. 

Goku and Krillin returned satisfied that the dragon balls where safe with the Namekians and that the next day they may even conclude their hunt. However, as they sank down in their beds, had they taken a last look at the night sky, they may have seen two shooting stars fall to earth near the horizon, a signal that this hunt was about to get a little more complicated.

Vegeta floated above the treetops, staring down at the flash of blue hair he could barely see through the canapé. He rolled his eyes at his own softness, but began to descend towards her all the same. Once he got closer he could hear her talking angrily to herself

"… why do I bother? Yamcha ogles other women and I can't even keep Vegeta's attention when there aren't any other women around!" Vegeta was angered and perhaps even a little hurt by the comparison, not that he'd allow himself to register the pain. "I mean" she continued "why oh why couldn't he have just said that we were together? its not like I wanted or expected a flowery emotional speech, I just wanted the facts plain and simple, but apparently telling the truth is a weakness now as well! I mean, an explanation for why we've been living under the same roof for over a year and still don't share a bed would also be nice…" Vegeta decided to cut her off there.

"If you want to provide night time entertainment for the green man and whoever else happens to be watching us then that's up to you, but personally I like to keep my private life PRIVATE!" he snorted, and smirked as Bulma's back tensed and she nearly fell out of her tree 'again' he thought in amusement.

"h-how long have you been listening to me?" she said in a small voice

"long enough to hear me compared to a human weakling" he hissed

"that long huh?" she smiled slightly despite herself "don't take it personally Vegeta, I was just angry"

"humph" 

she paused…

"so, you've heard my side of this, but I've only begun to hear yours, that's not very fair" she said in a playful voice, deciding that the heavy emotional approach hadn't been terribly successful the first time.

"Bulma…" he began but wasn't sure how to finish "as I have already stated, I know that we are being watched for some reason. Think about it, they wouldn't just simply move someone as dangerous as me out of hell and not keep an eye on me now would they?"

Bulma thought briefly, he had a point

"so, will things change when we're alive again?"

"after a time, yes I expect so" he replied

"what do you mean 'after a time'?" she turned to eye him suspiciously

"I have to become super saiya jin and kill Frieza before I can think about such things" he stated blankly

she resisted the urge to shout and thought about this

"I guess I can accept that" she sighed, and then privately congratulated herself on her new maturity.

"you will have to" he grunted "but if you must have reassurance then know this, I will return when he is dead and I imagine that I shall make a home on earth… with you." he sighed at the idea of him making a home anywhere, but couldn't resist the strange comfort it brought.

She smiled up at him

"that's all I needed to hear"

he smirked and lifted her from the branch of their tree, taking her back to the house in his arms.

When they finally reached home, they found Kami in a state of deep meditation on their sofa.

"oh no! I completely forgot!" she whispered to Vegeta "should I wake him?" Vegeta nodded and stalked toward the kitchen.

She shook the guardian of earth slightly

"Kami?"

his eyes blinked open and he smiled briefly

"I bring good news my child" he beamed

"what? What is it?"

"well, not only have the team on Namek gathered three of the balls already, but you and Vegeta now have permission to come and live on my lookout until you are… back to normal"

Bulma blinked, taking the news in, then leapt into the air taking the Guardian with her

"well? What are you waiting for let's get out of here!!!"

there, no cliffhanger, all tied up nicely… for now!


	27. A Second Chance?

CHAPTER 26 – A Second Chance?

Bulma bristled with excitement as Kami lead herself and Vegeta to King Yama's office (not that they didn't already know the way). Soon she would return to a place where night fell, real birds sang, and clouds where just clouds, not disembodied souls. 

Vegeta's thoughts where a little more reserved. He had died and gone to hell and soon he would live to tell the tale, not that he would remember what it felt like to be in hell, even now his memories were vague and confused. All he knew was that he didn't want to go back there, and he couldn't help but wonder if this new life would provide him with a chance to repent. Could he change his ways, clean up his act and be rewarded with heaven? Or did the original judgment stand… forever? Was this new life merely putting off his inevitable fate? Perhaps, still rationally he could see that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain by changing his ways, except maybe his pride.

His pride, how could he ever deny it? How could he argue with the thing that gave him life? All his life he was rewarded for his ruthlessness, his strength and his ability to at least appear detached at all times. He was proud of these qualities; if he gave them up what would he have to be proud of? His heritage? How could he be proud to be a saiyan prince if he allowed himself to live the life of a human peasant, just to be with a woman with the physical strength of an insect? 

The answers to all of these questions came suddenly and clearly to Vegeta, and his tension disappeared. If he could ascend and fulfill his destiny to become the legendary super saiyan, if he could rid the universe of Frieza and avenge his people once and for all, then no one in their right mind could question his right to anything, never mind his heritage or his pride, he would be a God.

Kami sensed Vegeta's mood change and smiled to himself, he may not have known the saiyan's thoughts exactly, but he knew enough to tell that he had found a solution to whatever inner turmoil plagued him, for now. 

They finally reached Yama's office, where Kami's psychic connection to the earth was strongest and it was least risky for them to attempt to teleport to the lookout. 

"Good afternoon King Yama" Bulma smiled politely.

"Yeah, and goodbye" Vegeta snorted

King Yama grunted at his insolence, but let it go since he would soon be rid of the troublesome saiyan for at least another 100 years, if his memory for saiyan life expectancy was correct.

"I hope all goes well with the Dragon Ball hunt, and for the earth Kami" Yama sighed

"I will keep you informed sir" Kami bowed to his superior and turned to his charges "ready?" he questioned

"Sure" Bulma replied

"Good, each of you take one of my arms" Bulma obeyed, but Vegeta sniffed

"Do I really have to hold your hand?" he said sarcastically

"Yes, if you don't want to stay here with King Yama for another couple of months" Kami retorted.

Vegeta took one look at Yama and did as he was told. The trio blurred out of sight and all in limbo breathed a sigh of relief.

Bulma opened her eyes to see the tiled area of the lookout lit by torches, it was late evening and she sighed in relief as she turned to the west to see her first sunset in over a year. She smiled as a gentle breeze gave her a slight chill, she felt alive again, even if she was stuck on this lookout until that was the case. 

Vegeta smirked

'So this is earth' he thought as he walked to the edge of the lookout and peered down onto the world below, nothing but a mass of green and blue swirls, but even from this height he could make out the twinkling of distant lights as the darkness set in. 'not displeasing on the eye' he thought almost optimistically. 

As both were lost in thought, Popo ran over 

"Kami you're back!" he smiled gleefully "I have the guest rooms prepared and dinner will be on the table in a matter of moments"

Kami smiled at his reliable assistant

"Thank you Popo, we'll be with you in a minute, first I have something to discuss with our guests"

Popo nodded unquestioningly and returned to his chores. Bulma and Vegeta looked quizzically at him (though the look was obviously less evident on Vegeta's face).

Kami sighed. Now that they were out of limbo, he thought it would be safe to tell them the whole story, it was only fair. Right now though, he was feeling less than enthusiastic about the task.

"It is time for explanations" he replied to their unspoken question. Wordlessly they sat on the steps of Kami's palace and waited for him to take the lead.

Kami was unsure where to start, but began anyway hoping the words would simply come.

"You have both experienced death first hand, however at this present time only one of you was destined to have done so"

The listeners took this in, neither of them really understanding what it meant. Kami continued

"Vegeta, according to The Book of Destinies, you should not have died. You were supposed to reach super saiyan and destroy Frieza. Somehow, this did not happen and a rift in time could result if we do not act to rectify this, perhaps ending in the implosion of the universe.  For this reason, the bizarre events of the past year have been part of an extremely elaborate plan."

Vegeta's facial expressions danced between shock and anger. He couldn't help but feel like a failure, how much more of a failure can a person be than to not even achieve that which is destined of them? He also didn't enjoy the idea that he had been treated like a pawn in Kami's elaborate plan to save the universe, but he could accept it.

"Continue old man, what should have happened?" Vegeta ground out between clenched teeth.

"In the destined course of time, you were to destroy Frieza, disband his armies and then, by some set of circumstances of which I am not aware, eventually come to earth. Here you were to meet Bulma… I'm sure you can imagine the rest. As it happens, Bulma, by some endlessly fortunate coincidence, was always destined to die at the time she did, and then be wished back a year later. After much persuasion I convinced Yama to allow you two to meet and spend a year together while I organized Goku to go to Namek and wish you both back at the same time."

"What I don't understand…" Started Bulma "is why it's so important that we get wished back at the same time that you were willing to send Goku and Krillin all the way to Namek?" 

"Well," Kami faltered "in order to restore the natural balance of time, Vegeta must destroy Frieza and disband his armies, and as it happens Frieza will be arriving on this planet in just four or five months, depending on how many stops he makes on the way." Bulma gasped, so soon her planet could be destroyed, but before she could dwell on this Kami continued "Therefore Vegeta is needed within the next year, plus the gang have to be on Namek in order to pick Vegeta up when he is revived, he will reappear in the spot where he was killed."

"You mean I will reappear in the middle of space? The moon we fought on will have disintegrated to nothing, that much I did work out before I died!" Vegeta snarled

"Don't worry Vegeta, the gang have the exact coordinates of the old moon, you will rematerialize on board their ship if all goes to plan"

Vegeta folded his arms in disgust,

"Whatever" he snorted. Bulma rolled her eyes at his behavior, but still had questions

"So that means I'll be wished back to down on earth were I was struck by lightning? Which means that Vegeta…." She trailed of, looking pale "… he'll be alone on a ship with Goku and Krillin for a couple of weeks." She felt nervous, she couldn't imagine Vegeta taking to her friends too well, especially not Yajarobe.

"Yes, this is an unfortunate flaw in the plan" Kami sighed "but really we have no other option" Bulma nodded, Vegeta frowned

"What is wrong with these people? Why is it so awful that they will be sharing my ship with me?" he asked, suspiciously

"Nothing much Vegeta, its just that they're… not really your kind of people." Kami attempted to be diplomatic

"Yeah, for one thing they won't take to kindly to you calling the ship they've been using for over a month 'your ship', you really have to get over yourself" Bulma scolded

"Woman, if this 'Goku' truly is a saiyan, then he should understand that, as his prince, I out rank him and therefore all his possessions are mine as soon as I deem it so!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Vegeta, Goku isn't some dumb lackey for you to order about!"

Kami sighed and turned to enter the palace, tuning out the ongoing battle between his two guests. He had seen enough of their arguing over the last year to know that they would soon tire out and come looking for food.

Back on Namek, on a hilltop, the air was still and silent except for the sound of two space pods opening, and the grunts and groans of their occupants as they stretched out after their long journey.

"All the way from the Northern galaxy in that little box!" one groaned as he simultaneously stretched out his shoulders and kicked the pod by his feet

"Well I'm so sorry, next time I'll ask Master Frieza for better conditions" The other grunted sarcastically

"So what do we do now?" the first said after a pause

"First we eat, then we get right on with purging this dirt ball just like master Frieza ordered"

The first snickered at this

"Just like he couldn't the first time" the second smirked, he had to admit it was amusing to imagine Frieza running from a planet due to bad weather.

"I heard that" a dangerously low voice uttered from their scouters

"S-sorry Master Frieza" both men gulped

'Why did he have to be listening in just then?' the first mentally whined

"Just get on with your work monkeys!" the voice growled as the connection ended. 

Both men sighed with relief and set about hunting for their dinner.

Ok! Chapter 26 done, and if you haven't already guessed who the two mystery men on Namek are, I'm disappointed in you! Review and tell me if you know or even if you don't!!


	28. Monkeys Everywhere!

CHAPTER 27- Monkeys Everywhere! 

AN : silverstar: Frieza isn't actually early, at most he's a month before schedule, sorry if I've confused you somewhere, I'll try to keep the timing more obvious from now on ^_^

Also thanks to everyone else who keeps reviewing, you keep me writing!

Disclaimer: after 27 chapters I'm really really sick of writing this, but anyway, don't own it, don't sue *sigh*

The camp fire glistened and emphasized the angular features of the two men around it with its warm glow. These men had feasted on a giant whale, the bones scattered about nearby were all that was left to tell its tale. Picking the remnants of his food out of his teeth with one of the smaller bones, the larger of the two men, or Nappa as he was known to a select few who chose to learn his name, tried to remember where he'd put his scouter, so he could get to work finding those Namekians. The second man, Radditz, was lost in thoughts of his younger brother, the one who had been sent to this section of the galaxy as a baby and had never been heard from again. He didn't often dwell on these thoughts, but then he didn't often have cause to journey to this particular quadrant. An idea struck him.

"Nappa?" he almost grunted the name, so as not to show any fear of his superior both in title and strength.

"what is it Radditz? Can't you see I'm thinking?" Radditz almost laughed, if Nappa had a weakness it was definitely his IQ.

"Nothing much, just the small matter of my brother, Kakarotto. I wondered, since this mission won't take us more than a day, if we could use our spare time afterwards to attempt to find him." 

Nappa was about to give his companion a flat 'no' but changed his mind at the last minute. They saiyan race was dying out, and with the loss of their prince he was their new leader, another lackey wouldn't be such a bad thing.

"hell, why not? Another saiyan might come in handy, especially if Frieza doesn't find out about him" Nappa grunted in return. Radditz almost smiled. It would be interesting to see how his baby brother had turned out. "anyway" Nappa interrupted his thoughts "go find your scouter, we need to figure out where them aliens are hiding!"

"why don't you use your own?" Radditz snapped back, feeling a little bolder knowing that Nappa felt some need to preserve the saiyan race.

"Read my lips, Radditz. Me, leader, you, lackey. Now get to work!" he roared, accompanying his speech with a swift kick to Radditz's side. Radditz rubbed his aching ribs and hurried to find his scouter.

Once it was retrieved, Nappa placed it over his left ear and pressed the side button twice, bringing up any power readings on the planet.

Miles away, Goku lay in a restless sleep, plagued by bad dreams,

He watched in horror as Chi Chi's harsh words echoed in his head over and over, while her cruel eyes glared down at him. Over and over the words echoed, driving him insane:

"Goku, you're getting fat, I'm putting you on a DIET!"

"DIET"

"DIET"

"DIET!!!"

He shut his eyes tight and his power exploded, surrounding him in a blue glow

"NOOOOOOO!" He screamed

Goku awoke with a start, his own screams echoing in his ears, he looked around the room anxiously before realizing that Chi Chi wasn't there and he wasn't going on a diet.

"Gosh" he sighed, his eyes wide with surprise "I'm never eating cheese before bead time again" he laughed to himself at the foolishness of his nightmare, and rolled over to sleep, not noticing that the bed clothes had disappeared, burnt to a crisp by his powerful aura.

Back at the saiyan's camp site, Nappa dropped the scouter at his feet, his eyes were wide and sweat beaded on his fore head. He had been sensing the usual readings, a large cluster of fairly small power levels, a couple of slightly larger ones, although still pitifull even by Radditz's standards. Then it had happened, a sudden surge of energy, a frighteningly high power level. He hadn't seen the likes of it since…

"Prince Vegeta" He mumbled under his breath, still in shock.

Radditz stared dumb founded at his companion, he'd honestly never seen him this scared, he'd never seen him show any outward signs of fear at all.

"what is it?" Radditz was beginning to feel more than a little spooked by his superior's behavior.

"Prince Vegeta" Nappa whispered, not so much replying to Radditz's question as confirming it to himself "It has to be Vegeta, he came here to fight Frieza and then he disspeared, they said he was dead but… who else could it be?"

Radditz wasn't sure how to feel about this. He didn't exactly have warm feelings for the Prince, but he had to admit that Frieza had shown them a little more respect when Vegeta was around. But then, if the prince was resurrescted (or never dead) then surely they would have to chose sides, to fight with him or with Frieza, there would be no going back to annonimity within Frieza's ranks. They would probably be killed. He didn't like this at all.

Before he could voice his concerns, Nappa took off in the direction of the power reading leaving Radditz little choice but to follow or be punished for cowardice later. He sighed and took to the sky, struggling to keep up with the much more powerful saiyan.

Back on the lookout, Bulma and Vegeta were left utterly confused as Kami ran from the room in great haste. Vegeta merely shrugged and returned to his meal, which even he had to admit was delicious. Bulma frowned a little but decided that it would be inappropriate to go following the Guardian around if he had official business to attend to. She continued to eat slowly, hoping Kami would return soon with an explanation. 

Sure enough, after about fifteen minutes he was back, and looking very concerned indeed. Bulma began to feel nervous

"what is it Kami?" she asked as politely as she could under the pressure of her own curiosity and the strong feeling that this would have something to do with her and Vegeta.

"It's the gang, on Namek" he replied quietly. Vegeta listened intently, realizing that this was relevant to his current situation. "I fear the situation is about to get more complicated" he sighed and took his seat at the table.

"in what way?" Vegeta stared intensely at the guardian out of the corner of his eye.

"Vegeta, do you remember the other surviving members of your race?"

Vegeta grunted

"do I remember them? Those two fools were the bain of my life for 20 years!"

"yes well, they, Nappa and Radditz, arrived on Namek a few hours ago with orders to purge the planet" Kami tried to hide his anger at the persecution of his own people, it wouldn't do to let personal feelings influence him right now.

"So what? If they don't know about the balls then what does that matter to us?" Vegeta replied coldly, annoying the guardian more than he would ever know

"Shut up Vegeta, let him finish!" Bulma was shocked by his harsh words, he had always been slightly cold but she had never experienced this level of cruelty from him.

Vegeta merely grunted, satisfied that he hadn't compromised his more sadistic urges.

Kami continued

"Vegeta, if the Namek elder dies, then the balls lose their power" Vegeta's eyes widened at this, this was bad "it gets worse" Kami continued, as if reading his mind "Goku has accidentally made himself known to the pair and now they believe, based on his power level reading alone, that he is you. They are heading for the ship right now."

Vegeta growled

"If they damage that ship I'll have them both hung drawn and quatered!" he hissed more to himself than the others present. Bulma shuddered, feeling that he truly meant his words.

Kami sighed

"I'm sure Goku can handle them, he is almost as strong as you now Vegeta" the guardian took great pleasure in witnessing Vegeta's obvious surprise at this, which was quikly covered with a smirk

"Almost? Well unfortunately for him he does not have the potential in his blood to reach the legendary level, but perhaps he'll make a passable sparring partner when I'm done with Frieza"

Bulma sighed at his arrogance

"whatever happens, I know Goku will pull it of, he's never failed me yet" Bulma smiled weakly before and exhausted yawn over took her. "I think it's time I got some sleep" 

Kami nodded and called Popo telepathically

"Popo is on his way, he'll show you to the room he has prepared for you two"

Bulma smiled sweetly, while the realization dawned on Vegeta that they would most likely be forced to share a bed. He toyed with the idea of training all night as he finished his meal and Popo appeared in the doorway.

A new chapter finally!!! Review!


	29. Second Contact

CHAPTER 28 – Second Contact

Disclaimer: I love you mister Toriyama!

Mr. Popo was nervous, they didn't often have guests at Kami's palace and he wanted everything to run smoothly. For this reason, the bedding situation caused Popo considerable stress. He knew very little of the current customs regarding unwedded couples, especially inter- species pairings. Would they want to share a bed? Would they even want to share a room? The possibilities for error seemed endless and he didn't imagine he'd have the opportunity to ask them, or even that it'd be appropriate to ask such things if the opportunity arose. Eventually his hosting instincts kicked in and the correct decision seemed obvious.

Popo thought on all this quietly to himself as he led the guests of honor to their bedchambers. In fact, he was so lost in thought that he almost walked straight past the door; he stopped abruptly in font of the couple, causing a rather exhausted Bulma to walk straight into the solid wall of muscle that was Vegeta's back.

"Watch where you're walking woman!" Vegeta growled, still feeling a little uptight about their sleeping arrangements.

"Watch it yourself buddy! I'll have you know that I'm not impressed with your attitude at the moment!" Bulma scolded in return

"I care little for your human pleasantries"

"I'd noticed" Bulma inwardly fumed but simply lacked the energy for a full scale row right now, especially with the knowledge that a nice comfortable bed lay on the other side of the door they stood before.

Popo sensed the end of the dispute and opened the door slowly to reveal a narrow hallway with two doors facing each other on either side. The genie smiled broadly at his own shrewdness. Adjoining rooms, both with double beds was the obvious answer. If they chose to share a room they could easily do so without the knowledge of any other soul and if not, no harm done. Vegeta had to hold in his huge sigh of relief, while Bulma was far too sleepy to form an opinion on their sleeping arrangements right now. After a brief row about who got which room, both retired for the night, but not before Vegeta received all the information he required on the training facilities of the lookout etc.

Popo breathed a huge sigh of relief and congratulated himself on another task well executed.

Krillin shot out of bed; he had to get to Goku's side and fast. Something was coming, he could sense it and it certainly wasn't any Namekian he'd ever met… not even Piccolo could compare to this. He found Goku in front of the ship, ready to meet whatever was coming, not looking even slightly nervous, typically. Krillin had little time to wonder whether Goku had a death wish before two powerful auras began to grow in the distance. Krillin gulped

"Can we take them Goku??" 

"If they're not masking their ki, then yeah I think we can, if not who knows?"

Krillin prayed to every God he's heard of that these people didn't know how to mask their power.

Soon enough, two huge men stood before them in full armor, Krillin felt he's knees begin to buckle but held his ground, his faith in Goku's abilities unwavering.

Nappa checked the power readings on his scouter

"Pitiful" he said aloud, Radditz nodded in acceptance "where is Vegeta?" he stated rather dumbly, unsure of whether the weaklings before him understood him

Goku blinked, this was certainly a turn up for the books, someone else here looking for Vegeta. He regained his composure quickly

"Vegeta's dead, but not for much longer so if ya stick around…" 

"Don't lie to me! I saw his power flare around here just half an hour ago!" Nappa interrupted

"Huh? That's not possible, we didn't wish him back yet" Goku grinned amiably "that musta been me you sensed, I had a nightmare" he scratched the back of his head while the two elder saiyan stared at him blankly.

"Wishes? Nightmares? What kinda nonsense are you talking? Hand over our prince before I beat your ass into the ground boy!" Nappa barked like a crazed army veteran.

"Whoa!" Goku raised his hands, gesturing for the gigantic man to settle down, it didn't work. Nappa roared and charged at the smaller man. Krillin covered his eyes waiting for the inevitable. Silence fell, he looked up to see Goku holding the man twice his size in the air using only one arm. Nappa had passed out after one punch. Radditz gaped at the scene before him, and began to weigh up his options. He could run now, but what kind of a saiyan would that make him? He had little time to debate before he saw the younger warrior place Nappa gently down and walk toward him.

"Gee, your friend sure was a hot head! Are you going to attack me too?" Goku smiled brightly at his long lost brother, something clicked into place inside Radditz's tiny brain.

"Kakorotto?" he whispered.

"Huh? I don't know what that means, but if you want to come inside and talk about this calmly then I'll explain everything" 

Radditz could only nod his head shakily, deciding to observe what kind of a saiyan Kakorotto had become before he attempted to jog his obviously long lost memory.

Once inside and comfortably seated in the ship's kitchen, Goku proceeded to explain everything to the mysterious man. Krillin began to worry a great deal about handing over such information to strangers, for all they knew they could be playing straight into Frieza's hands, and Krillin had heard enough about that guy from Kami to know that that wasn't good.

"… So ya see, we need to get the dragon balls, wish Vegeta back, take him back to earth and let him beat Frieza so the whole universe won't collapse." Goku finished.

"I see" Radditz replied, this was going to take some time to absorb. The story was very elaborate, but something about his younger brother's manner told him it was all true and Radditz was a man to trust his own instincts. "How many of these balls have you gathered?"

"Three" replied Krillin "we need another four before we can make our wishes" Radditz sneered at the tiny human, only his curiosity about his brother could tempt him to tolerate such a weak creature.

"Leave us earthling, I have much to discus with this… 'Goku'" Radditz growled lowly. Krillin looked nervously at Goku for confirmation. He merely smiled.

"Fine, but I'll be right outside the door, if ya need me pal" he whispered, Radditz's saiyan hearing picked up on this and he snorted, but was ignored as Krillin retired from the room. Radditz watched him go and then turned to his younger brother, for by now he was sure he had found him. The resemblance to their father was frightening, at least physically.

"Kakorotto" he grinned, "the things I could tell you"

Goku merely gave the older man a quizzical look.

New chapter!!! Yes I know it's been a month, but I split up with my boyfriend of three years, I wasn't up for writing k? 

Any who, on a happy note thanks to all my reviewers, especially Brenda! KEEP ON SMILING, AND REVIEW!!


	30. The Plot Thickens

CHAPTER 29 – The Plot Thickens!

Disclaimer: not mine, don't sue

Goku shifted nervously in his seat, waiting for the older Saiyan to speak. He couldn't even begin to guess what the guy would have to say to him, but it seemed like it might be important, what with all the trouble he was taking to think about it.

Finally Radditz spoke

"You are not human"

"Oh yeah, I know that. Kami told me before we left that I'm actually a Saiyan or something, which makes me a lot stronger than a regular human and it might sound crazy, but before my tail got cut off I could turn into a giant monkey!" 

Radditz was momentarily taken aback, but was quickly pleased that he had a lot less to explain to his brother than he had anticipated.

"My companion and I are also Saiyans…" he began only to be interrupted by an eager Goku.

"Really? Cool! So, did you know my family? Is that furry belt round your waist a tail? Can I touch it??"

"Slow down!" Radditz growled, "yes I did know your family, in fact I AM all that's left of your family. Yes, this is a tail and no, you can't touch it!"

A look of complete bewilderment crossed Goku's face

"So, are you my dad?"

"No!" Radditz was beginning to dislike this simpleton of a brother; if it weren't for the kid's immense strength he probably wouldn't be bothering with this "I am your brother, Radditz. Your real name is Kakarotto and you were sent away from our home planet as an infant to destroy the population of earth, since your power level was judged to be too low for you to be of any use on Vegetasei"

"Riiiight, but I lost my memory and now I don't really want to kill anybody, everyone has some good in them and everyone deserves a chance to live" Goku finished with a big goofy grin, Radditz felt sick.

"How did you gain such immense strength if you have no love for battle?"

"Oh don't get me wrong, I like to fight, its my favorite thing apart from eating, I just don't want to kill anybody!"

Radditz nodded, slightly reassured.

"You have a pure heart, you are naïve, had you lived on Vejitasei, such things would have made you an outcast."

"Well then I'm glad I didn't live there!" Goku's eyes flashed defensively, making Radditz more nervous than he wanted to admit, but he continued.

"Such things are of no relevance now, what is of relevance is that you are getting yourself into a war with Frieza by bringing back Vegita, you do not know what danger you are getting yourself into, brother."

"I don't care about the danger, Frieza will come to my home sooner or later and when he does I'm going to make sure we have the best chance of beating him possible. I'd do it myself if it weren't for this pesky space-time continuum thing that Kami keeps saying is so important."

"Beat Frieza yourself? You have no idea what you're talking about! Even Vegeta, the strongest of us was no match for him!"

"Well I'm nearly as strong as Vegeta and if I can become a super Saiyan then I'll stand a damn good chance!"

"You can never become a super Saiyan, you are of a lower class, and you do not have the potential"

"I think I do, after all when I was born I "didn't have the potential" to be stronger than you or your buddy out there, did I?"

Radditz sighed, perhaps he was right, but it all just seemed too impossible, like hoping for a miracle. Still, if they wanted to wish Vegeta back he couldn't stop them, Goku was too strong. And he certainly didn't like the idea of Vegeta coming back to find that he'd refused to aid in his resurrection for fear of a war with Frieza.

"I will help you collect these dragon balls" he sighed

"Great! We should be able to collect them really fast with your help! What about your friend out there though?"

"I somehow doubt he will question your authority after such a humiliating defeat" Radditz couldn't help but smile, seeing his arrogant commander beaten like that had made his year.

Goku also grinned, and then remembered one little problem

"Uh… but you can't kill any of the Namekians ok?"

Radditz blinked.

"Why not?"

"Just, because I said so, ok?"

"And I can promise that I won't, but Nappa is a very different matter."

Goku frowned, but then shrugged lightheartedly

"Well, if he won't do what I ask I might have to hurt him, but I won't let him harm anyone while we're here"

Radditz was uneasy at this thought, Nappa was far too stupid and far too arrogant for this plan to run smoothly. There was little they could do about it now, however, and both decided to retire for the night. Radditz disappeared into the night with the immense lump of Nappa, still out cold, on his shoulder. Krillin sighed as he watched him leave; things were never simple in his life, ever.

Approximately six hours later, all three Saiyans, plus Krillin and a large party of Nameks met at a safe distance from the Nameks' hidden Village (Goku's decision) and resumed to resume their hunt. Nappa was surly and repeated made it clear that he was only there "to serve the prince" and that he didn't want any "stinkin' green freaks" coming into contact with his vastly superior self. The Nameks merely shook their heads at this and continued on with the hunt, trusting in Goku to keep his bizarre new friend in check. 

Mean while, back at the earth team's camp, Yajirobe sunbathed and silently congratulated himself on having avoided any kind of work or danger on his first venture into space. Goku was so naïve to have believed his story about not having a hover car. As if he would've come to a potentially dangerous planet without any means of escape from life threatening situations. What else would he do if they were attacked? Run? Yeah right.

As it was, that little "white lie" had bought Yajirobe a few days vacation on a pretty planet with near tropical weather and a space ship, which did pretty much everything for him. 

"This is the life!" he chuckled to himself as he stretched out on the soft blue grass. "No Karin sending me on 'errands', no mass murdering maniacs, and not a cloud in the sky"

However suddenly the sunlight seemed to dim "aw I jinxed it!" Yajirobe groaned as he sat up and opened his eyes, expecting to see fluffy green clouds ruining his sun, instead he saw the same perfect clear sky, if only briefly, before everything went dark. 


End file.
